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ClaSS  J 


THEO-SCIENTIUM 


BY 

JOHN  M.   RUSSELL. 

Author  of  "The  Seven  Ages" 

CONTENTS 

Page 

The  Solar  Throne, 

4 

The  Solar  Hell, 

25 

The  Problem  of  Creation, 

36 

Contraction  of  the  Solar  System, 

48 

The  Origin  of  Man, 

63 

The  Fall  of  Man, 

68 

The  Redemption, 

74 

The  Seven  Ages, 

81 

Illustrations 

THEO-SCIENTIUM 

or 

Introductory  Extracts 

To   "The  Seven  Ages  of  Creation" 


by 
JOHN  M.  RUSSELL. 


Dedicated  to  lovers  of  learning,  and  to  all  who  love  to 
linger  late  and  early  at  wisdom's  gate. 


1902 

EAGLE   PUBLISHING  CO 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 

{,*■  * ct i fiS*.^  °^*fo    GE8 


Copyright  A.  D.  1902, 
By 
«C-f  '       It-  John  M.  Russell. 


ARTICLE    I. 

The  Solar  Throne 

And  I  saw  a  great  wonder  in  Heaven:    a  woman  clothed 
with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet.'     (Rev. 

xii:l.) 
INSPIRED  TESTIMONY.  Pondering    on   the 

words  of  the  above  passage  of  Holy  Writ,  and  a  few  others, 
of  like  signification,  we  became  struck  with  the  thought 
that  the  interior  of  the  Sun  is  the  Heaven  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem. The  'Woman'  therein  symbolizing  the  earth's  tri- 
umphant Blessed  standing  on  high,  and  all  as  it  were, 
united  into  one  great  being,  a  'wonder,'  the  destined  'Bride 
of  the  Lamb.'  And,  behold,  here  we  find  her  in  the  Sun. 
This  is  a  vision  of  immediately  after  the  'end  of  time,'  as  re- 
lated in  the  preceding  chapter.  But  in  the  second  verse  of 
this  vision,  the  scene  instantly  reverts  back  to  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  Christ;  and,  likewise,  from  Heaven  back 
to  earth. 

This  brief  extract  of  sacred  Scripture  is  exuberantly 
illustrative  and  suggestive  that  the  sun  is  really  the  solar 
Empyrean.  But  we  have  still  other  evidence  from  the  pen 
of  the  same  sacred  writer,  seemingly  no  less  conclusive,  such 
as:  'And  I  saw  an  Angel  standing  in  the  sun  (xix:17). 
and  speaking  of  the  yet  far-off  time  of  our  planet's  disso- 
lution in  the  future,  the  Patmosian  prophet  declares :  'And 


4  INTRODUCTION 

/  saw  a  great  white  throne  and  Him  that  sat  thereon  from 
whose  presence  the  earth  arid  Heaven  fled  away'  (xix:ll). 
The  great  white  Throne  here  seen  in  the  vision  of  the  future 
undoubtedly  is  the  Sun.  But  the  'Heaven'  mentioned  in 
this  quotation  means  the  terrestrial  firmament 
(See  Gen.  i:8).  But  perhaps  the  most  direct  passage 
pointing  to  this  fact  is  found  in  Psalm  (xviii:6-7)  where 
it  says:  'He  hath  set  his  tabernacle  in  the  sun:  and  he  as  a 
bridegroom  coming  out  of  his  bridechamber  hath  rejoiced  as 
1  giant  to  run  the  way.  His  going  out  is  from  the  end  of 
Heaven,  and  his  circuit  even  to  the  end  thereof:'* 

It  is  inferable  from  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  the  Rev- 
elation of  St.  John,  that  the  sun  is  an  immense  shell  of 
gold,  the  interior  of  which  is  composed  of  'clear  gold,  like 
transparent  glass'  as  it  were,  having  the  appearance  of  'a 
sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire.'  And  that  the  celestial  vault 
is  on  all  sides  around,  studded  with  cities  of  gold  and  of 
precious  stone  and  pearl,  and  with  Merusalems'  and  Zions 
of  most  gorgeous  and  magnificent  display.  The  'New  Jer- 
usalem' described  in  that  chapter  being  one  of  the  many 
cities  of  the  sun,  the  one  destined  to  receive  terrestrial  sal- 
vation. Over  all,  then,  and  out-glorying  all  else,  the  inter- 
ior Throne  of  Eternity's  Monarch  ! 

Indeed,  the  Scripture  abounds  in  many  rather  illus- 

tractive  passages  presaging  this  same  idea  as,  'My  dwelling 

place  is  in  the  Heaven  of  Heavens.'      'As  far  as  Heaven  is 

above  the  earth,  so  my  ways  are  above  thy  ways;  'My  throne 

is  above  all  thrones;'  'Our  strength  is  in  the  name  of  the 

Lord  who  made  Heaven  and  earth;'  'Thou  art  a  hidden 

*This  pas  mge  is  not  quite  the  same  in  all  translations,  and 
in  some  versicns  the  same  Psalm  is  number  xix. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  5 

God,  the  God  of  Israel/  'The  Heaven  of  Heavens  are  His 
dwelling  place,  but  the  earth  He  gave  to  the  children  of 
men;'  'All  is  vanity  under  the  sun,'  etc.;  which  passages 
also  go  to  show  that  the  residence  of  the  Deity,  the  dwell- 
ing place  of  the  sovereign  God,  the  throne  of  infinite  Ma- 
jesty, is  somewhere  far  removed  from  this  world  of  ours, 
somewhere  raised  far  above  this  lower  world,  and  that  the 
same  is  a  place  of  surpassing  splendor,  and  besides  all  this 
that  it  is  a  real,  distinct  place,  a  separate  world  in  itself, 
and  standing  apart  from  all  other  worlds.  And  there, 
the  Lord  ordained  it,  that  the  brightness  of  His  Throne 
should  furnish  light  and  day  to  the  outer  circling  worlds. 

WELL,  SO  MUCH  FOR  EEVEALED  INTELLI- 
GENCE. NOW  FOR  SCIENCE;  scientific  informa- 
tion, and  let  us  see  how  the  two  harmonize.  Although  there 
is  nothing  in  astronomy  directly  declaring  the  sun  to  be 
a  heaven,  yet  the  idea  is  at  least  very  deducible  from  many 
stated  facts.  In  starting  out  we  must  of  course  admit  that, 
outside  of  the  Scripture,  the  proposition  cannot  be  proved 
by  any  rule  of  mathematical  calculation,  nor  logic,  nor  by 
ocular  demonstration  ;  data  can  be  gleaned  only  by  inference 
from  appearance,  size,  position,  relation,  motion,  import- 
ance, etc.,  of  the  cosmic  body.  But  even  the  same  is  true  with 
respect  to  all  scientific  discoveries.  And  especially  in  deal- 
ing with  this  hidden  question,  science  at  best  can  give  us 
only  'circumstantial  evidence.'  * 

But  circumstantial  evidence  is  sometimes  very  strong, 
such  as  cannot  be  overthrown.    Astronomers  tell  us  that  the 

*The  solar  system  consists  of  the  sun  at  the  center,  and  eight 
or  nine  planets  revolving  around  that  center  in  orbits  at  varying 
distances  therefrom. 


6  INTRODUCTION 

sun  is  the  only  self-luminous  body  in  the  solar  system; 
certainly  a  fitting  characteristic  for  the  throne  of  a  Deity. 
The  moon  and  planets  all  shine  only  by  reflected  light,  the 
light  of  his  eminence,  the  Sun.  They  tell  us  that  the  sun  is 
the  only  stationary  body  in  the  solar  system ;  all  the  others 
revolve  and  rotate  around  this  glowing  center.  Yes,  they 
inform  us  that  the  sun  is  the  great  central  body  of  the 
system,  that  all  the  other  members  are  merely  eccentric 
wanderers.  This  dignified  position  and  commanding  loca- 
tion are  not  unseeming  prerogatives  of  an  Omnipotent  See. 
It  is  the  sun  that  governs  the  order  and  controls  the  mo- 
tion of  all  the  other  members;  the  standpoint  of  the  'com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  cosmic  forces.  The  qualities  and 
properties  of  supremacy  and  royalty  are  everywhere 
stamped  in  unfading  characters  on  this  awful  central  orb; 
the  soloris  firma,  the  root  and  stock,  the  pre-existent  base 
and  firm  foundation  of  the  solar  system.  The  prerogatives 
of  ponderance,  appearance,  magnitude  and  power  are  here 
monopolized  in  this  all-controlling,  all-beholding  member. 
This  great,  reposing,  recumbent,  luminous  body  possesseth 
not  unbecoming  qualities  of  uranian  dignity,  not  to  speak 
of  the  prolific  omnipresence  of  its  nature,  or  the  exuber- 
ance of  its  creative  capacity,  or  the  all-seeing  intelligence 
of  Heaven's  'eye.' 

Astronomers  assure  us  that  the  sun  is  by  far  the  largest 
member  of  the  solar  system.  All  the  other  revolving 
spheres  are  as  nothing  in  comparison  to  the  incomparable 
magnitude  of  the  mighty  central  globe.  The  sun  is  com- 
puted to  be  about  1,300,000  times  as  large  as  the  earth.  In- 
deed, that  body  is  674  times  as  large  as  all  the  other  mem- 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  7 

bers  of  the  solar  system  together.  But  the  high  Heaven 
appears  small  to  our  eyes.  Why  ?  Because  of  the  distance.  If 
the  sun  were  as  near  the  earth  as  the  moon  it  would  cover 
three-fourths  of  the  whole  sky.  The  sun  is  the  greatest  of 
orbs,  why  not  the  greatest  of  worlds  ?  It  would  require  a 
chain  of  one  hundred  earths  side  by  side  to  reach  across 
the  sun's  interior  from  one  side  to  the  other.  It  is  said,  if 
the  earth  were  placed  at  the  sun's  center,  there  would  not 
only  be  room  for  the  moon  to  revolve  in  its  present  orbit 
about  the  earth,  but  the  sides  of  the  sun  would  stretch  out 
in  every  direction  to  a  distance  of  200,000  miles  beyond. 
The  area  of  the  surface  of  that  celestial  world  would  ex- 
ceed the  surface  of  the  earth  by  12,000  times,  or  it  would 
require  12,000  globes  the  size  of  the  earth  (and  that  in- 
cluding land  and  water)  to  furnish  the  same  surface  area, 
or  world-room,  as  that  of  the  sun.  The  proportionate  size 
which  the  earth  bears  to  the  sun  is  very  nearly  the  same  as 
that  of  a  pea  to  a  globe  two  feet  in  diameter.  If  the  earth 
were  laid  in  the  sun,  it  would  bear  about  the  same  propor- 
tion to  the  vast  concave  as  a  marble  in  a  parlor. 
And  if  all  the  planets  were  consolidated  into  a  single 
body,  that  would  set  in  the  sun  like  a  school  globe  in  a 
large  room.  It  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  this  Orbus  Mag- 
nus is  but  little  less  than  the  entire  solar  system  in  itself ! 
The  sun  illuminates  the  whole  solar  system,  and  even  at 
this  distance,  91,500,000  miles  away,  we  scarce  dare  look 
upon  his  majesty  for  brightness.  Think  not  the  sun  too 
small  for  a  Heaven,  nor  that  most  awful,  lofty,  sacred 
sphere  deficiency  in  lustre  for  a  solar  Throne. 


8  INTRODUCTION" 

All  the  other  members  of  the  system  are  dark,  opaque, 
little  bodies  to  this.  Who  will  think  after  a  moment's  con- 
sideration that  this  body,  nearly  700  times  as  large  as  all 
the  rest  together,  was  made  for  the  single  purpose  of  giv- 
ing light  and  heat  to  the  planets,  and  that  the  sun  is  other- 
wise a  vast  desolate  fireball?  What  a  lack  of  purpose,  a 
deficiency  of  design  on  the  part  of  an  all-wise  Providence, 
that  he  would  not  appropriate  this  mightiest  creation  to 
some  further  and  better  use.  Surely  an  Alfonso  would 
here  cry  out,  as  he  did  in  disgust  over  the  unmethodic, 
cumbersome  Ptolemaic  theory:  'If  I  had  been  consulted 
at  the  creation,  I  could  have  done  a  better  job  than  that.' 
Every  or  any  likly  reason  which  can  be  adduced  on  the  ques- 
tion goes  to  support  the  proposition  of  the  sun  being  the 
Throne  and  Heaven  of  the  solar  system.  Yes,  it  is  appar- 
ent, convincing,  irrestible,  the  doctrine  that  this  vast, 
reposing  central  sphere  should  be  the  Heaven,  the  em- 
pyrean of  the  system  of  the  sun.  From  both  science  and 
theology  this  conclusion  must  be  drawn. 

CONCLUSION.  This  is  not  a  system  of  'fire  wor- 
ship' nor  'sun  worship,'  but  it  is  a  theory  expounding  the 
mystery  of  the  Sun;  neither  is  it  a  new  religion;  but  it  is 
a  new  beam  or  buttress  in  support  of  that  oldest,  hopeful- 
est,  holiest  creed,  the  creed  of  an  everlasting  Heaven;  a 
place  of  endless  joy ;  another  and  glorious  world  hereafter ; 
and  that  this  lowly  life  of  ours  is  deemed  pregnant  with 
eternal  value  of  daily  increasing  worth,  in  pursuance  of 
the  great  things  that  are  to  be.  Being  architects  of  our 
own  destiny,  we  may  build  an  infinite  fortune  from  day  to 
day,  as  the  tide  of  time  rolls  on  and  eternity  draws  nigh, 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  9 

when  the  just  shall  rise  like  the  morning  to  the  Palace 
of  the  Lord  most  High.  It  cannot  be  regarded  heretical 
or  heterodoxical  since  the  same  is  grounded  on  several  clear, 
direct  and  corroborating  passages  of  Holy  Scripture.  We 
are  merely  looking  into  the  final  purpose  and  deeper  func- 
tion in  the  Providential  design  of  the  solar  Creation.  Such 
might  be  called  an  inquiry  into  the  esoteric  nature  and  pur- 
pose of  the  creation  of  the  sun.  It  is  a  looking  upward  into 
that  source  of  all  brightness  for  a  better  world  than  this. 
It  is,  perhaps,  the  oldest  idea  in  religion  that  there  exists 
somewhere  an  eternal  Heaven,  but  it  is  a  new  piece  of  dis- 
covery to  point  out  and  definitely  locate  the  exact  place  of 
that  blissful  abode.  For  6,000  years  this  problem  has  puz- 
zled the  world's  brain.  We  lay  claim  to  the  distinction, 
however  underserving  we  may  be,  for  standing  on  the 
shoulders  of  these  giants*  we  have  been  raised  to  see  afar. 

As  Copernicus  discerned  the  fact  that  the  planets  re- 
volve about  the  sun ;  as  Columbus  understood  the  practica- 
bility of  of  the  earth's  rotundity,  and  who  was  sometimes 
persecuted! ;  and  as  Galileo  devolved  the  rotary  motion  of 

*  Standing  on  the  shoulders  of  giants.  This  allusion  is  taken 
from  Newton's  expression  that  in  his  discovery  of  the  'attraction 
of  gravitation'  he  was  merely  standing  on  the  shoulders  of  his 
predecessors  who  had  made  other  discoveries  by  aid  of  which  he 
himself  was  enabled  to  succeed. 

tit  is  a  notable  fact,  and  not  underserving  of  some  com- 
ment here,  that  new  truths  and  findings  are  often,  at  first,  re- 
ceived by  the  world  with  the  spirit  of  repugnance.  It  has  been 
truly  said  that  'truth  is  to-day  abhorred  and  to-morrow  adored.' 
Admitting  that  it  is  the  duty  "of  authorized  custodians  and  war- 
dens of  the  various  knowledges,  both  sacred  and  secular,  to  guard 
against  the  invasions  of  error  and  heresy  with  a  paternal  and 
jealous  care;  yet  these  'watchmen'  should,  however,  keep  re- 
minded that,  although  falsehood  and  deception  are  ever  liable  to 


10  INTRODUCTION 

our  planet,  and  for  which  lie  was  much  derided  as  a  vision- 
ary fellow ;  so  we  flatter  ourselves  that  we  have  found  the 
Heaven!  Yes,  found  the  Empyrean,  or  the  highest 
Heaven,  or  rather  discerned  the  location  of  the  place  there- 
of. Confidently  trusting  that  many  friends  who  have  gone 
before  us  all  have  found  the  place  first;  and  to  them  we  re- 
linquish, for  the  present,  all  claim  on  the  sacred  territory 
by  right  of  conquest  or  earliest  discovery;  but  we  cannot 
see  how  it  can  be  other  than  a  most  laudable  task  for  any- 
one living  to  search  for  the  happy  place.  A  hopeful  intel- 
ligence, this  story  of  the  sun,  bright  news,  though  we  cannot 
yet  see  the  seraphim  nor  cherubim,  nor  hear  the  golden 
harps. 

POPULAR  IDEAS  ABOUT  HEAVEN.    If  the 

question  were  asked :  Where  is  Heaven  ?  What  kind  of  a 
place  is  Heaven?  the  world's  answer  would  be  various. 
Some  would  tell  us  that  Heaven  is  up,  somewhere  up.  Some 
would  say,  Heaven  is  everywhere.     Others  would  declare 

creep  in,  there  are  yet  many  vital  truths  of  which  we  do  not 
know ;  and  though  much  is  known,  there  is  much  to  be  known. 

This  wonderful  being  called  'man'  with  unfinished  touch  of 
God-like  power  and  appearance  is  virtually  a  new  beginner  in  the 
rank  and  file  of  creation's  being,  comparatively  a  stranger,  a  new- 
comer on  the  planet,  with  his  'whence  and  whither'  as  yet,  to  him, 
but  faint  and  darkly  known.  Hence  it  is,  that  wTe,  as  human 
beings,  naturally  and  of  legitimate  right,  inquire  into  these 
tilings.  It  therefore  behooves  us  to  at  least  refrain  from  that 
class  of  pseudo-philanthropists  and  quasi-conservators,  and  which 
the  divine  Master  ,himself,  so  indignantly  denounced  as  those: 
'Who  would  lock  up  the  store-house  of  learning  and  will  neither 
enter  themselves  nor  permit  anyone  else  to  enter.'  Besides,  no- 
tice how  He  sternly  reprehended  the  Doctors  of  the  Law  for  not 
understanding  better  the  prophecies  concerning  Himself,  which 
culpable  ignorance  deluded  them  from  knowing  who  the  Messiah 
was. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  11 

that  Heaven  is  all  around  us.  Others  again  would  assure 
us  that  'the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  within  you.'  Still  oth- 
ers would  inform  us  that  Heaven  is  where  God  and  his 
angels  and  his  saints  dwell.  But  any  of  these  traditional 
ideas  does  not  vouch  for  the  Throne  of  the  Deity,  nor  for  a 
distinct  world  and  residence  of  the  blest,  such  as  the  Script- 
ures everywhere  describe,  nor  for  a  real  substantial  dwell- 
ing place.  These  assertions  are  kind  of  vague  and  mythical, 
and  like  many  suppose  God  to  be  an  immaterial,  insubstan- 
tial Being,  they  believe  his  abode  and  resting  place  to  be 
likewise.  These  ideas  are  generally  the  outcome  of  misap- 
prehensions and  misconstructions  of  certain  Scriptural 
passages.  Of  course  they  are  true  to  a  limited  extent,  but, 
after  all,  very  unintelligible. 

Heaven  is  up.  Well,  up  is  never  the  same  any  two 
seconds.  Perhaps  this  view  is  founded  on  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  which  says :  'God  declared  the  firmament  Heaven.' 
Which  latter  also  accounts,  in  a  manner,  for  Heaven  to  be 
in  the  lofty,  cerulean  azure,  surrounding  the  globe,  for  the 
firmament  is  the  temporal  Heaven  of  the  earth.  Heaven 
is  everywhere. — This  notion  of  Heaven  is  probably  an  out- 
come of  the  pantheistic  idea  that  God  and  nature  are  one 
the  same.  And  though  the  kingdom  (spirit)  of  God  be 
within  his  servants,  yet  this  definition  very  narrowly  ac- 
counts for  the  Throne  of  an  omnipotent  Majesty.  Prob- 
ably the  idea  of  a  solar  Heaven  was  never  before  brought 
squarely  up  before  the  world,  and  will,  at  first,  be  received 
with  some  feelings  of  repellancy,  and  that  because  the  sun 
is  commonly  reprehended  as  being  nothing  more  than  a 
huge  globe  of  fire  and  burning  metal,  and  a  Heaven  should 
be  looked  for  in  a  more  serene  and  cooler  place.    Though 


12  INTRODUCTION 

most  people  consider  the  earth  to  be  a  solid  body,  yet  if 
asked  their  belief  concerning  the  location  of  the  bottomless 
pit,  they  most  assuredly  would  say.  Within  the  earth.  Well 
then,  we  must  consider  the  earth  to  be  empty,  and  if  the 
earth  be  an  hollow  globe,  why  not  the  sun?  And  for  that 
the  heat  all  radiates  off  into  space,  the  interior  surface  re- 
mains refreshing  and  cool. 

DISTANCE.  Astronomers  agree  in  saying  that 
the  mean  distance  of  the  sun  is  91,500,000  miles  from  the 
earth.  Here  is  a  scope  of  measurement  which  no  human 
mind  can  hope  to  span,  and  the  imagination  palls  before 
the  amazing  magnitude  of  that  cosmic  fabric  called  the  solar 
system.  And  yet  the  distance  of  91,000,000  miles  is  simply 
used  as  a  foot-rule  in  computing  the  distances  of  the  fixed 
stars,  or  the  stars  outside  and  beyond  the  planets.  'Suppose 
a  railroad  could  be  built  to  the  sun.  An  express  train,  trav- 
eling day  and  night,  at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour, 
would  require  341  years  to  reach  its  destination.  Ten  gen- 
erations would  be  born  and  would  die;  the  young  men 
would  become  gray-haired ;  their  great-grandchildren  would 
forget  the  story  of  the  beginning  of  that  wonderful  journey, 
and  could  find  it  only  in  history,  as  we  now  read  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  or  of  Shakespeare ;  the  eleventh  generation 
would  see  the  solar  depot  at  the  end  of  the  route.' — Steele. 
Behold,  is  not  this  the  great  fixed  chaos  betwixt  Heaven 
and  earth,  as  mentioned  in  the  Gospel,  where  Abraham, 
speaking  to  Dives,  said:  'And  besides  all  this,  between  us 
and  you  there  is  fixed  a  great  chaos :  so  that  they  who  would 
pass  from  hence  to  you  cannot,  nor  from  thence  come  hith- 
er/ (Luke  xvi:26.)  By  the  Almighty's  power  alone  can 
this  gulf  be  spanned.     Yet  our  prayers,  too,  may  span  this 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  13 

blank  abyss,  carried  by  angers  hand.  Then,  with  the 
psalmist,  let  us  break :  Out  of  the  depths  we  cry  unto  Thee 
0  Lord,  Lord  hear  our  voice  from  these  far  distant  low- 
lands of  time. 

VEEBAL  INDICATIONS.  The  propriety  and 
adaptation  of  this  proposition  of  a  solar  Heaven  is  verified 
in  Scripture  which  everywhere  uses  the  phrase,  in  Heaven, 
not  at  Heaven,  nor  on  Heaven;  showing  beyond  the  iota 
of  a  doubt  that  Heaven  is  a  place  within.  'I  saw  a  throne 
set  in  Heaven;'  'I  saw  a  great  wonder  in  Heaven;'  'and  I 
saw  another  sign  in  Heaven ;'  'and  I  saw  the  holy  city  com- 
ing down  out  of  Heaven;'  'Our  Father  who  art  in  Heav- 
en;' '  and  I  saw  Heaven  opened/  etc. 

Heaven  must  therefore  be  an  inclosure  somewhere,  sub- 
stantially impaled  on  all  sides  round;  an  interior  habita- 
tion within  some  mighty  swelling  dome.  The  primative 
position  of  dwelling  is  on  the  bare  outside  of  a  world,  the 
rudimentary  form  of  life  (organic)  inhabits  the  convex 
sides  of  a  planet,  and  where  the  view  commands  but  little 
compass.  But  that  final,  electic  and  perfect  position  of 
everlasting  residence  is  ever  a  world  within,  and  that 
within  a  sphere.  There  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  en- 
chanting zones  and  regions  are  always  in  full  view  and 
visible  to  all.  The  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  hemis- 
pheres Emp}Tean  are,  far  and  near,  in  constant  sight.  Be- 
sides, such  is  the  only  possible  formation  into  which  a  world 
could  well  be  made  in  order  to  adequately  accomodate  an 
Omnipotent  throne.  Internally  and  not  externally  is  the 
place  for  a  God  to  dwell ;  eternal  bliss  hidden  and  bounded 
by  unfailing  protection  and  security  around  about,  above 
and  beneath.    The  worlds  of  time  are  without,  but  eternity's 


14  INTRODUCTION 

world  is  within.  0,  a  great  'wall'  is  the  auriferous  zones 
surrounding  the  paradise  of  God,  wherein  are  crystal  cities 
and  princedoms  and  kingdoms  and  zions  and  seats  of  solar 
regents. 

The  interior  surface  of  the  sun  is  a  most  magnificent 
concave  wall  of  gold,  refrangible,  transparent,  and  of  the 
deepest  hues  and  colors,  or  as  the  Scripture  describes  it: 
"Like  a  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire;'*  and  more  ornate 
than  the  rainbow  or  the  liveliest  flowers  that  ever  bloomed. 
Nor  can  any  mind  of  man  picture  a  Heaven  so  beautiful, 
or  what  mortal  could  deem  a  place  so  lovely,  so  heavenly, 
a  paradise  so  fair  ?  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor 
hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  any  human  being,  the 
beauty  of  that  place.  And  then,  centerward,  and  high  over 
all,  the  throne  of  Him  of  Eternity,  whose  rarest  brightness 
enlightens  the  circumambient  vasts.  God  is  the  'sun'  of 
Heaven  and  lights  the  solar  kingdom,  as  it  were,  by  the  re- 
fulgence of  his  beauty.  It  is  almost  incredible  to  us  that 
any  being,  even  a  God,  should  be  so  glorious,  so  bright 
(whose  beauty  is  awful  to  behold,  whose  power  is  dreadful 
to  behold)  like  the  smoke  of  the  beams  of  the  majesty  of 
creation's  immutable  Chief,  whom  thunder-clouds  of  glory 
summer  about  His  head;  the  imperturbable  God  of  gods! 
As  it  is  written :  'And  from  the  throne  there  proceeded 
lightnings  and  voices  and  thunderings.'  Yet,  after  all,  no 
man  is  able  to  conceive  a  true  idea  of  the  appearance  and 
greatness  of  God,  except  that  His  power,  in  a  measure,  is 

*This  appearance  of  mingled  fire  does  not  come  from  the  fire 
on  the  sun's  outside  surface,  such  is  the  color  right  in  the  con- 
stituent gold, 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  15 

seen  in  His  works,  an  estimate  of  His  power  in  the  magni- 
tude of  His  works. 

HEAVEN'S  DOORWAY.  The  question  may  be 

said  to  here  intuitively  arise :  What  is  the  manner  of  en- 
trance into  Paradise  ?  How  can  anyone  get  into  the  sun  ? 
Well,  the  answer  is  easy  enough  since  this  is  also  described 
in  Eevelation.  There  is  a  door  leading  into  Heaven;  a 
great  door  or  rather  a  door  of  doors.  This  door  may  be 
opened  so  as  to  let  in  a  man  or  it  might  be  opened  so  as  to 
let  in  a  great  angel ;  yes,  or  a  city.  The  prophet  said :  'Af- 
ter these  things  I  saw;  and  behold  a  door  opened  in  Heav- 
en (iv:i).  And  in  another  place  in  the  same  mystic  book 
we  find :  'Behold  I  have  given  to  thee  a  door  opened  which 
no  man  can  shut'  (iii:8).  Here  the  appointed  Keeper 
holds  the  keys  which  lock  and  unlock  the  door  of  Heaven's 
threshold.* 

NATURE'S  ASSERTIONS.  A  hero-worshipper 
has  disserted  that  a  full-grown  man  who,  for  instance,  had 
never  in  his  life  seen  the  sun,  would  upon  the  dint  of  the 

*lnferably,  Heaven's  door  is  placed  at  the  region  of  the  celes- 
tial pole,  or  poles,  where  the  temperature  on  the  outside  is  lowest, 
perhaps  utterly  cool.  For  according  to  the  theory  of  vortical  pres- 
sure (as  explained  later  on)  the  temperatures  of  all  great  spheres 
is  ever  greatest  at  the  equatorial  zone  and  least  at  the  poles.  Be- 
sides, the  Psalm  states  that  the  Lord's  'going  out  is  from  the  end 
of  Heaven.'  Even  so  it  is,  in  a  manner,  with  the  earth's  struct- 
ural formation.  The  entrance  or  entrances  into  the  infernal  re- 
gions of  the  bottomless  pit  must  be  at  the  terrestrial  poles.  Here, 
there  undoubtedly  exists  a  cosmic  vacuity,  at  least  open  a  great 
way  in,  which  condition  is  the  result  of  an  almost  total  lack  of 
cosmic  pressure  and  concretion  (leaving  the  gates  of  Tartarus 
in  part  ajar),  and  which  chaotic  ends  of  the  geogony  and  the 
wardens  there,  are  ever  secluded  from  the  gaze  of  man.  Nor  can 
the  ends  of  the  Solar  be  descried  from  this,  our  terrestrial  obser- 
vatory, nor  the  prospects  of  the  Gates. 


16  INTRODUCTION 

impulse,  kneel  down  and  worship  that  body  on  beholding 
his  first  sunrise,  and  bow  his  head  in  meditation  and  prayer. 
This,  because  of  the  inspiration  of  the  imposing  spectacle; 
because  of  the  transcendent  appearance  of  the  object ;  for 
the  sun  is  not  only  an  emblem  of  the  living  throne,  but  it 
is  the  real  thing,  an  emblem  of  the  imperial  power  and 
majesty  of  the  Lord,  for  that  bright  sphere  is  the  world  of 
God. 

Of  all  things  visible  the  sun  has  a  most  celestial  ap- 
pearance; indeed,  as  if  enshrining  the  hidden  glory;  as  if 
the  streaming  radii  of  the  super-brilliant  disc  were  wont  to 
emanate  from  the  hidden  power ;  for  the  exterior  splendor 
is  but  an  emblem  of  the  interior  resplendence,  and  of  the 
plentitude  of  the  living  Paradise.  The  rising  sun  is  the 
stamp  and  image  of  unfailing  life  and  immortal  youth,  and 
reneweth  the  face  of  nature  every  morn,  and  remindeth 
no  less  than  of  that  place  from  whence  all  blessings  flow, 
as  if  Heaven's  bounteous  flood  of  love  would  yet  more  than 
requite  its  due.  Verily  hath  the  Almighty  'set  His  taber- 
nacle in  the  sun.'  In  the  rising  pomp  thereof  is  attested 
an  objective  symbol  of  the  living  sanctuary ;  and  in  the  ex- 
altation of  the  meridian  sun,  the  overpowering  fervor  of 
the  great  throne;  and  in  the  setting  thereof  a  'still  small 
voice'  from  the  Ark  of  the  Eternal  Testament.  The  glory 
of  the  solar  Sovereign  is  emblazoned  on  His  flaming  throne, 
and  His  power  in  the  conflagrations  thereof.  Lo,  the  most 
conspicuous  of  all  things,  the  largest  of  all  things,  the 
brightest  of  all  things,  such  that  we  scarce  durst  look  upon 
the  throne  for  its  brilliancy  and  the  deluge  of  its  reful- 
gence ! 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  17 

Why  account  it  strange  that  Heaven  should  illumine 
the  transparent  depths  and  give  birth  and  light  to  the 
worlds  abroad  ?  What  wonder  that  the  Heaven  of  the  solar 
system  should  be  the  throne  of  God?  Truly  the  blessings 
of  the  pleasant  sunshine  are  second  only  to  the  grace  of 
God.  No  sooner  does  that  orb  depart  at  eve  than  darkness 
comes  on  and  coldness  comes  on,  twin  sisters  of  death.  It 
is  the  radience  of  the  Lord's  bright  House  that  makes  our 
humble  dwelling  beautiful  and  glad;  it  is  the  brightness 
of  the  day-star  which  makes  our  lowly  planet  grand,  when 
Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  glory.  And  every  sea  and 
every  land  and  every  stream  and  every  hill  and  every  thing 
on  which  the  sun  shines,  reflects  a  silent  paean :  'Lo  the  ex- 
haustless  fount,  the  illimitable  light,  the  light  of  Heaven  V 
All  beauty  is  owing  to  the  sunlight.  The  picture 
on  the  canvas,  the  landscape,  the  brilliant  plumes 
of  the  birds  and  color  of  the  flowers,  the  tints  of  the  rain- 
bow, the  crimson-streaked  clouds  are  naught  else  than 
the  miracles  of  sunlight  painting  nature,  messages  of 
beauty  from  Heaven,  such  as  inspired  the  poet,  the  artist, 
the  philanthropist  to  light  their  votive  lamps  with  a  spark 
from  the  living  Flame,  and  taught  all  mortals  to  lift  their 
eyes  and  look  upward. 

Undoubtedly  Milton  more  than  half  believed  this  when 
he  wrote  his  famous  apostrophe  to  light :  'Hail  holy  light, 
offspring  of  Heaven  first-born,  or  of  the  eternal,  co-eternal 
beam,  may  we  express  thee  unblamed  ?  Or,  hearest  rather 
thou,  pure  ethereal  stream  of  whose  fountain  who  can  tell  ?' 

And  Ossian,  when  he  sang:  'Whence  thy  beams,  0 
sun?' 


18  INTRODUCTION 

Lastly,  permit  us  to  offer  as  our  humble  tribute :  Hail 
distant  Throne,  whose  brightness  lends  the  day!  Hail  ra- 
diant Orb,  whose  luster  leads  the  way !  'Lead  kindly  Heav- 
enly light/  that,  one  day,  we  the  glory  of  thy  inmost  Shrine 
may  see. 

Who  would  not  seek  Heaven  in  the  most  glorious  place, 
and  what  place  is  so  glorious  as  the  harbinger  of  the  morn- 
ing? Creation's  most  elaborate  work,  this,  nor  could  a 
solar  Architect  wisely  afford  to  keep  the  apartment  vacant. 
In  characters  unfading,  the  sun  declares  itself  to  be  the 
Heaven.  Who  will  say  the  gracious  sunshine  is  not  Heav- 
en's own  gift  ?  How  frequently  we  hear  the  remark :  'The 
sun  is  like  Heaven  this  morning?'  Common  sense  in- 
tuitively reveals  it.  Here  again  may  we  safely  infer  the 
reality,  for  such  things  really  are  what  they  seem  to  be. 
How  we  love  those  blessed  beams,  so  near  and  yet  so  far, 
like  streams  of  dissolving  gold-dust  strewn  gratis  through 
the  void !  The  natural  appearance  of  the  sun  speaks  vol- 
umes, and  in  silent  proclamation  betokens  its  royalty.  No 
dubious  Heaven  this,  nor  pageant  world.  That  very,  very 
common  thing,  the  sun,  know  we  not  that  is  the  Paradise, 
the  Paradise  of  fadeless  renown?  Eevelation  declares  it, 
Science  proclaims  it,  and  all  nature  asserts  in  solemn  tones 
that  the  Lamp  of  day  is  the  Shrine  of  the  Most  High ! 

INDUCTIVE  REASONINGS.  Perhaps,  in  the 
chain  of  argument  there  can  be  nothing  stronger  or  more 
pertinent  offered  on  the  projected  doctrine  of  solar 
empyreanism  than  the  inductive  theory  of  solar  con- 
traction, or  the  focal  concentralization  of  the  solar 
system.       And     although     observation,     so     far,     seems 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  19 

to  fail  to  answer  the  theory,  it  is  nevertheless 
deducive  from  universal  analogy  that  the  solar  system  is 
ever  consolidating  itself  in  the  body  of  the  sun.  Wher- 
ever liquids  or  fluids  tend  to  seek  a  center,  a  rotary  motion 
of  the  converging  volume  is  at  once  inaugurated.  Even  so 
with  the  solar  system,  the  rotary  is  established,  which  again 
evinces  the  counter  fact  that  the  center  is  being  sought.  For 
the  solar  system  is  involved  amid  a  mighty  whirlpool  of 
space,  an  universal  vortex,  and  which  vortex  is  itself  much 
vaster  than  the  visible,  material  system,  which  latter  is  set 
within  the  vortex  with  the  sun  at  the  center  or  'eye'  of  the 
vortex.  * 

Now,  the  solar  system,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  but  a 
cosmic  Integer,  a  distinct  section  of  the  universe,  in  itself, 
with  its  own  vortex,  members  and  bodies,  with  its  own  tem- 
porary worlds  and  its  own  eternal  world.  We  behold  here 
a  separately  organized  creation,  a  detached  universal  one- 
ness. But  the  sun,  besides  being  the  omnific  member,  is 
also  the  eternal  member,  the  first  and  the  last,  whose  age 
is  incomputably  greater  than  that  of  any  other  member 
of  the  entire  system. f  For  the  planets  are — notwithstand- 
ing all  protests  to  the  contrary —  mere  temporary  or  trib- 
utary bodies,  created  and  forever  being  created  in  the  outer 
depths  of  the  solar  vortex,  and  by  that  vortex  borne  and 


*The  controlling,  solar  Sphere  might  well  be  metaphorized  as 
the  cosmic  Heart  reposing  in  the  bosom  of  Chaos,  the  day  and 
night  of  whose  pulsations  vibrate  through  the  solar  Deep. 

|The  age  of  the  sun  might  be  vaguely  said  to  consist  of  seven 
Areh-a>ons  of  solar  duration,  corresponding  to  as  many  united 
Dynasties  of  the  living  Throne  and  to  the  'seven  Spirits  of  God.' 
But  these  are  mighty  Epochs,  such  as  could  not  be  reckoned  by 
years. 


00  iNTKonrcTiox 

carried  downward  during  the  vast,  cosmic  ranges  of  time, 
to  the  sun.*  Such  is  the  law  of  universal  convergence, 
wherein  it  is  the  primitive  property  of  all  matter,  bodies 
and  system  to  condense  and  focalize.  Such  is  the  func- 
tional cause,  such  is  the  final  result.  The  sun  assimilates 
and  is  gradually  assimilating  the  solar  system;  slowly  but 
surely  they  will  fall  in  one  by  one !  It  is  the  solar  'sea'  into 
which  these  lesser  tributaries  empty.  Thus  is  the  sun  the 
final  and  eternal  port  or  harbor  or  conservatory  of  the  en- 
tire system,  the  haven  or  the  Heaven !  Yes,  verily  is  the 
throne  of  God  the  Solaris  umbilicus,  the  glowing  and  firm 
foundation  'stone'  of  the  solar  fabric;  'tis  the  lasting 
Bourne,  the  jasper  Shrine,  the  aye  enduring  Sun ! 

It  is  the  organic  law  of  all  systems,  whether  animate 
or  inanimate,  political  or  cosmic,  to  have  a  Head  or  a  com- 
mon terminus,  to  and  from  which,  the  current  of  force  and 
activity  constantly  tends  and  flows.  Even  such  is  the  ra- 
tional plan  on  which  the  solar  system  was  built;  and  that 
umbilical  orb,  the  sun,  is  the  functional  head.  And  that 
which  is  the  Heaven  for  all  the  other  planets  is  likewise  the 
Heaven  of  our  earth.  There  is  no  special  Heaven  for  the 
children  of  men  above  the  children  of  Venus  and  the  blessed 
of  Mercury's  creation,  for  our  planet  is  but  a  dependent 
organic  factor  in  the  make  up  of  the  solar  Integer.  Here 
is  a  great  and  wonderful  system,  with  its  own  Heaven,  its 
own  hell,  its  own  worlds,  its  own  Creator,  too ;  a  complete, 
creative  organization  intact.  One  for  all ;  that  mystic  Meg- 
asphere  which  gives  day  to  all,  that  omnipotent  sphere  of 

*Not  until  recently  has  the  planet  Neptune  hove  into  view, 
even  to  the  most  powerful  telescopes. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  21 

spheres,  that  is  the  solar  Capitol  and  castle  of  the  cosmic 
empire,  the  goal  of  bliss ;  it  is  the  regal  palace  of  the  Sov- 
ereign King  and  horn  of  the  eternal  Strength ! 

ULTIMATION  OF  ARGUMENT.  Of  course  a  de- 
mand for  nothing  less  than  a  pan-universal  Heaven,  a  par- 
adise on  an  infinite  scale,  would  satisfy  the  ambition  of 
some  people's  idea  of  a  celestial  world  hereafter,  where  the 
blessed  of  the  Universe  of  universes  shall  sing  in  united 
choirs  and  hosannahs  all  within  the  pale  of  solitary  em- 
pyrean bliss.  But  such  cosmopolitan  anticipation  is  evi- 
dently due  to  the  shortcomings  of  our  understanding  and 
the  inadequateness  of  the  human  mind,  nor  would  such  all- 
comprehending  magnitude  in  any  way  enhance  the  beati- 
tude. Such  idea  sprang  from  our  utter  misapprehension 
of  the  measureless  mightiness  of  infinite  space,  and  the 
potential  of  magnitude  and  distance  which  must  forever 
lie  submerged  and  hidden  in  the  fathomless  realms  of  the 
void.  Undoubtedly,  the  broadest  stretch  of  the  imagina- 
tion which  has  favored  any  mortal  on  the  vastness  of  bound- 
less immensity  could  be  easily  circumscribed  within  the 
limits  of  solar  immensity,  if  not  within  the  median  circle 
of  the  earth's  orbit.  Addison  has  gone  so  far  as  to  say 
that  the  size  of  the  earth  alone,  and  which  is  only  like  an 
atom  in  space,  is  beyond  the  capacity  of  any  human  intel- 
lect. 

There  is  yet,  at  least,  one  other  argument,  and  one 
which  we  are  utterly  unable  to  produce,  the  argument  of 
personal  observation,  the  testimony  of  an  actual  eye-witness. 
But  the  same  is  ever  lacking  in  proving  the  existence  of  a 
Heaven  at  all;  the  same  is  wanting  in  proving  the  exis- 


INTRODUCTION 

tence  of  a  soul,  or  the  existence  of  a  Deity.  We  have  the 
argument  of  Nature,  which  goes  far  towards  establishing 
a  solar  Heaven;  we  have  the  argument  of  reason,  which 
likewise  proves  the  sun  to  be  a  divine  Throne;  but  like  in 
proving  the  existence  of  a  God,  there  is  only  one  sure  and 
certain  method  of  solving  the  problem,  and  that  is  by  Rev- 
alation's  word,  wherein  we  have  the  testimony  of  those 
'Eagles'  of  prophecy  (John,  Ezekiel,  etc.)  who  were  them- 
selves actual  eye-witnesses.  And  which,  if  we  will  not  be- 
lieve, 'we  would  not  believe  one  should  he  come  down  from 
Heaven  or  rise  from  the  dead  before  our  eyes,  and  declare 
these  things.'  However  new  and  startling  as  the  theory  may 
seem  to  us  now,  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  time  will  come 
when  the  idea  of  a  visible  throne  of  God  shall  be  set  down 
as  a  cononical  truth  and  a  dogma  of  divine  faith.  Even 
as  the  once  rejected  hypothesis  of  the  earth's  rotundity  soon 
ripened  into  a  substantial,  scientific  fact,  so  the  discovery 
of  a  solar  Empyrean  and  glowing  seat  of  the  Almighty's 
power  must,  in  time,  crystalize  into  an  intrinsic  and  estab- 
lished doctrine  among  men.  Yes,  or  as  the  sun  was,  on  a 
time,  shown  to  be  the  solar  Center,  so  shall  it  now  be  proven 
to  be  the  solar  Shrine. 

OTHER  CONCLUSIONS.  By  analogy,  it  is  there- 
fore inferable  that  the  fixed  stars  are  also  suns,  suns 
afar  off!  Astronomers  tell  us  that  since  the  fixed  stars 
shine  by  their  own  light,  they  are  distant  suns,  self-lumin- 
ous centers  of  unseen  systems.  Far  away  centers  of  'solar 
systems/  everywhere  thronged  throughout  the  infinite 
mazes  of  the  depths  of  space.  Likewise  we  say  these,  too, 
are  thrones  of  the  omnipresent  Deity,  the  universal  Deity, 


THE  SEVEX  AGES  23 

and  real  Heavens  like  unto  our  own  sun;  and  with  a  dis- 
tinct, presiding  personality  of  infinity's  God  dwelling  in 
each  potential  seat  of  endless  majesty.*  The  Almighty 
hath  many,  many  thrones ! 

A  DOXOLOGY.  The  EEIGN"  within  our  sun 

might,  without  protestation  or  prejudice,  be  called  the 
God  of  the  solar  system,  beyond  whose  jurisdiction,  for  us, 
there  is  no  appeal ;  'Hear,  0  Israel,  the  Lord  thy  God  is  one 
God ;'  and  his  dynasty  is  forever  and  ever ;  and  the  realms  of 
his  empire  are  unto  the  utmost  bounds  of  solar  dominion. 
And  from  thence  he  speaketh  by  way  of  omnipotence  and 
enduration,  from  the  center  of  the  void,  the  King  of  Ages 
speaks :  'I  am  who  am ;  before  the  earth  was,  I  am  and  my 
glory  shall  never  cease.  My  joy !  my  rapture !  from  eter- 
nity to  eternity  I  am,  and  no  one  shall  reign  but  me.  The 
earth  shall  pass  away,  a  moment  and  these  worlds  shall  be 
no  more;  yet  I  am,  and  there  is  no  one  thou  shalt  adore 
but  me.     I  remember  the  days  of  old  and  the  worlds  that 

*The  Fixed  Stars  are  Suns.  The  vast  distance  at  which  the 
fixed  stars  are  known  to  be,  precludes  all  thought  of  their  shining, 
like  the  planets  or  moon,  by  reflecting  back  the  light  of  our  sun. 
They  must  be  self-luminous,  and  are  doubtless  each  the  center  of 
a  system  of  planets  and  satellites. 

*Our  Sun  is  one  of  them.  As  we  see  only  the  suns  of  these 
distant  systems,  so  their  inhabitants  see  only  the  sun  of  ours, 
and  that  as  a  small  star.  This,  because  of  the  immense  distance. 
Between  them  and  us  there  is  a  great  chasm  which  no  imagination 
can  bridge;  a  distance  so  great  that  figures  are  meaningless,  and 
we  can  only  call  it  space, — so  profound  that  to  us  it  is  limitless, 
boundless,  though  beyond  we  see  those  other  suns  twinkling  like 
distant  lights  over  a  waste  of  waters.  The  distance  of  Neptune 
from  the  sun  is  2,750  millions  of  miles,  but  the  distance  of  the 
nearest  fixed  star  is  nearly  7,000  times  farther!  If  we  represent 
the  earth's  distance  from  the  sun  by  one  foot,  then  will  Neptune's 
distance  be  represented  by  thirty  feet,  while  that  of  the  near^t 
fixed  star  will  be  about  thirty-six  miles. 


24  INTRODUCTION 

have  been  since  the  foundation  of  the  sun  was  laid,  since 
my  throne  began  to  shine,  yet  I  am,  the  self-same,  forever 
young;  a  thousand  days  with  me  is  as  one  day  that  is  past. 
From  a  nameless,  dateless  beginning,  I  have  overcome  all 
things;  I  have  overcome  the  enemies  of  God;  in  my  name 
thou  shalt  conquer,'  saith  the  Lord,  'and  there  is  no  one 
thou  needst  fear  but  me.  Lo,  who  can  stand  the  blast  of  my 
wrath,  or  the  rebuke  of  the  heat  of  my  throne  ?  The  arms 
that  opposed  me  are  perished  for  aye,  perished  are  the  wea- 
pons of  the  great.  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega/  saith  the  Lord, 
'the  first  and  the  last,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  and  the 
Lord  God  Almighty  is  my  name.  Who  can  count  the  days 
of  the  everlasting  God  ?  Who  will  give  us,  0  man,  the  date 
of  our  solitude  or  the  depth  of  our  profundity;  who  will 
give  us,  0  ye  living  powers,  the  number  of  the  year  of  our 
reign  ?' 


ARTICLE  II. 

The  Solar  Hell 

'He  hath  set  his  tabernacle  in  the  sun;  and  he  as  a  bride- 
groom coming  out  of  his  bride  chamber  hath  rejoiced 
as  a  giant  to  run  the  way.  His  going  out  is  from  the 
end  of  Heaven,  and  his  circuit  to  the  end  thereof :  and 
there  is  no  one  that  can  hide  himself  from  his  heat.' 

Psalm  xviii :  6-7. 
In  the  previous  article  we  have  endeavored  to  establish 
the  fact  that  the  interior  of  the  sun  is  the  solar  Heaven,  now 
we  shall  undertake  to  prove,  however  paradoxical  it  may 
seem,  that  the  exterior  of  the  sun  is  the  Hell  of  the  solar 
system.  The  Psalmist  in  the  above  quotation  speaks  of  a 
certain  lieat'  from  which  no  one  can  hide  himself,  and 
he  speaks  of  this  in  connection  with  the  assertion  that  the 
'tabernacle  of  God  is  in  the  sun.'  With  the  mind  free  and 
open  to  conviction,  in  taking  a  general  view  of  the  matter 
from  a  scientific  standpoint,  one  cannot  help  acquiscing 
to  the  idea  that  the  surface  of  that  awful  sphere  is  the  mys- 
terious Hell  of  Eevelation.  It  is  the  'pool  burning  with  fire 
and  brimstone/  the  lake  of  fire/  the  'second  death/  and 
such  like  epithets  for  which  the  word  'Hell'  is  the  universal 
and  common  term.  It  simply  means  the  place  where  all 
refuse,  rubbish  and  waste  matter  of  creation,  material  or 
spiritual,  shall  be  cast  for  the  purpose  of  effcting  its  exter- 
mination. 


H  INTRODUCTION 

It  is  thus  that  Hell  surrounds  Heaven  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  entrance  into  the  empyrean  of  anything  corrupt- 
ible and  unfit.  All  things  in  the  solar  system  must  fall  to 
the  sun,  is  falling  into  the  sun,  and  all  things  therein  shall 
be  destroyed,  annihilated,  except  such  as  the  Lord  God  shall 
choose  to  permit  to  enter  by  Heaven's  doorway  into  the 
sanctuary  of  eternity's  blissful  abode.  All  the  rest  shall  be 
destroyed,  wiped  out !  Hell  surrounds  the  Heaven,  lo  'tis 
Heaven's  own  fortification,  the  empyrean  breastwork,and  no 
one  of  himself  can  pass  the  solar  fortress  nor  hide  from 
its  heat.  Hell  is  the  protector  of  Heaven  and  the  ornation 
of  all  nature.  Flame  is  the  adornment  without  and  cordons 
of  fire  the  embellishment  of  the  sapphire  throne,  and  heat 
the  emblem  of  the  scepter :  behold,  verily,  the  pyro-regalia 
of  infinity's  see.  There  is  nothing  so  hot  as  the  sun ;  there 
is  nothing  so  bright  as  the  sun;  what  might  we  expect  to 
see  so  hot  as  hell  or  so  bright  as  the  throne  of  God  ?  Nay, 
who  durst  e'en  look  on  His  throne,  for  the  flood  of  torrid 
splendor  gushing  from  the  fount  of  light?  Revelation 
like  the  sun  embodies  a  Heaven  clad  in  fire,  and  religion 
like  that  sacred  orb  enshrines  an  endless  paradise  wrapped 
in  obscurity  and  which  the  eye  of  faith  alone  can  see. 

Hell  is  the  armory  of  Heaven,  the  bulwark  of  eternity. 
Hell  guards  the  Heaven  with  an  invincible  wall  of  fire! 
Thus  has  Providence  in  his  unerring  wisdom  made  a  double 
use  of  Hell ;  first  to  effect  the  destruction  of  all  waste  mat- 
ter, and,  second,  to  protect  the  most  sacred  vaults  of  the 
'Holy  of  Holies'  within.  And  no  one  can  pass  through 
except  by  permission  of  the  Almighty  and  his  keepers  of 
Heaven's  gate.     Of  all  fires  we  ever  saw  or  heard,  there 


THE  SEVEN"  AGES  27 

is  none  like  to  this ;  this  is  the  eternal  fire  !  'I  have  kindled 
a  fire  in  my  wrath,  said  the  Lord,  and  it  shall  not  be 
quenched.' 

The  sun  is  the  Almighty's  bright  throne  impaled  in  a 
robe  of  fire,  and  that  fire  'serene'  is  the  solar  Hell;  but  so 
far,  far  away  we  cannot  hear  its  roar,  nor  the  woeful  surge 
of  its  swell !  0,  the  monsters  who  were  devoured  there, 
and  the  hecatombs  of  felons  that  were  slain,  slain,  and  the 
wrecks  that  were  grieved  there  of  yore;  that  the  great  in 
Heaven  tremble,  sitting  on  securest  seats,  and  the  mighty 
shrink  in  fear,  when  they  ponder  on  the  power  of  Hell,  and 
what  its  history  yet  might  be ! 

The  fire  of  Hell  is  terrific !  Speaking  of  the  intensity 
of  the  heat  of  this  fire,  we  have  simply  to  say,  it  is  the  fierc- 
est in  creation.  Raised  to  a  white  heat,  the  heat  of  the  sun 
is  the  hottest  possible.  Even  from  a  distance  of  more  than 
ninety  million  miles,  how  easily  it  prostrates  us  mortals. 
The  solar  flame  is  constantly  fed  from  meteors  and  cosmic 
debris  which  rain  down  from  all  sides  out  of  space  in  in- 
cessant showers  on  the  surface  of  the  sun.  Such  is  the  final 
end  of  all  matter.  The  planets,  comets,  satillites  and  our 
own  earth  are  slowly,  imperceptibly,  but  surely  winding 
their  way  down  to  inevitable  doom.  And  all  wicked  spirit 
and  being  shall  also  perish  there.  Hell  shall  destroy  all 
things  except  the  spirit  of  the  just;  and  then,  like  an  all- 
consuming  tyrant,  murmur  to  himself  that  he  could  not  de- 
vour their  smoke.  The  one  burning  passion  of  hell  is  that  he 
might  be  able  one  day  to  devour  the  universe  and  lay  all 
things  waste ! 


28  INTRODUCTION 

That  fierce,  furious,  tremendous  white  fire  devours 
all  cosmic  refuse  and  rubbish,  whether  of  matter  or  being. 
All  foulness  and  wickedness  shall  here  be  destroyed.  Great 
is  the  fire  of  the  throne,  great  is  the  solar  flame!  All 
'weeds'  and  grass  and  corruption  and  serpents  and  sin-fed 
growths,  and  ordurous  and  obnoxious  things  go  in  here. 
And  all  dross  and  solar  waste  and  old  worlds  and  worn- 
out  planets  and  worthless  creations  and  wasted  systems,  and 
decrepid  earths  and  the  sweepings  of  immensity,  and  un- 
couth beings  and  monsters  and  canker-eaten  things,  and  all 
proud  and  disdainful  things  and  all  abominable  things,  and 
all  hateful  and  deadly  things  are  devoured  here,  for,  ah,  the 
living  throne  is  clad  in  a  robe  of  white  death,  and  this  great, 
central,  white  fire  forever  keepeth  the  solar  system 
purified.  Aye,  since  solar  eternity  begun  nothing  has  ever 
been  found  able  to  withstand  the  intensity  of  this  all-de- 
vouring all-enghouling  white  fire.  Nor  rock  nor  brass  nor 
spirits  nor  devils,  nor  hard  substances,  nor  the  strong,  nor 
clay  nor  water  nor  granite,  nor  demons  nor  gorgons  can 
resist  the  depredation  of  the  flames  of  this  unquenchable, 
inexorable  white  fire ! 

Astronomers  tell  us  that  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  some- 
thing prodigious.  Such  as  filled  the  ancient  naturalist  with 
awe  and  is  still  the  inexplicable  puzzle  of  the  modern  phys- 
isist,  and  men  must  bow  their  heads  in  reverential  wonder 
and  amazement  when  they  contemplate  the  power  of  the 
Being  who  made  the  sun  and  gave  to  it  the  potential  of  its 
radiative  energy  !  The  amount  of  heat  we  receive  annually 
across  the  depths  of  space  is  sufficient  to  melt  a  layer  of  ice 
thirty-eight  yards  in  thickness  extending  over  the  whole 


THE  SEVEN"  AGES  29 

earth.  Yet  the  sunbeam  is  only  one  three-millionths  part 
as  intense  as  it  is  at  the  surface  of  the  sun.  It  is  said  if 
the  heat  of  the  sun  were  produced  by  the  burning  of  coal, 
it  would  require  a  layer  ten  feet  in  thickness,  extending 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  sun  to  feed  the  flame  a  sin- 
gle hour.  Sir  John  Hershel  says  that  if  a  solid  cylinder  of 
ice  forty-five  miles  in  diameter  and  200,000  miles  long  were 
plunged  end  first  into  the  sun's  fire,  it  would  melt  in  a  sec- 
ond of  time.  Truly,  is  not  this  solar  chaldron  the  eternal 
and  unquenchable  fire  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  ?  Is  not  this 
'fiery  pool'  the  'second  death'  referred  to  in  Revelation, 
where  the  unfortunate  wicked  shall  henceforth  be  cast  after 
the  disappearance  of  the  earth  before  the  presence  of  the 
'great  white  throne?'  'And  hell  and  death  were  cast  into 
the  pool  of  fire;  this  is  the  second  death.  And  whomso'- 
ever  was  not  found  written  in  the  booh  of  life  was  cast  into 
the  pool  of  fire.'  The  'second  death'  means  the  destruc- 
tion and  death  of  the  soul  or  spirit.  Is  not  the  sun's  fire 
great  enough  to  answer  the  purpose  of  an  ideal  Hell  ?  Nay, 
argument  is  unnecessary ;  the  truth  is  only  too  self-evident, 
fearfully  conclusive.  Obeservers  say  that  during  a  total 
eclipse,  immense  tongues  of  flame  are  seen  to  shoot  out  from 
the  sun's  edge  for  a  distance  of  200,000  miles  in  all  direc- 
tions; swift  messengers  from  that  treacherous  deep;  as  if 
voracious,  bristling,  beryl  hell  would  fletch  out  into  remot- 
est regions  and  usurp  and  imperil  immensity  itself.  This 
great  fire  is  no  illusion;  it  is  a  fire,  hell's  fire,  high  and 
bright  that  all  may  see.  There  is  nothing  under  the  Heaven 
so  plain  to  be  seen  as  Hell,  though  safely  yet,  the  while 
standing  on  our  own  beloved  planet  and  gazing  o'er  the 
distance,  we  behold  the  gigantic  flood  of  the  solar  Gehenna  ! 


30  INTRODUCTION 

By  associating  these  astronomical  teachings  with  those 
of  religion  we  unite  another  two  of  the  great  and  leading 
principles  of  science  and  ethics  which  instantly  chime  and 
unify,  the  one  clearing  up  and  solving  the  grand  mystery  of 
the  other.  For  the  Apocalypse,  in  its  revelations,  is  co-ex- 
tensive with  the  solar  system,  and  the  divine  message  deals 
unreservedly  with  that  portion  of  the  cosmic  structure  as 
is  more  directly  connected  with  the  creation  of  man,  to 
whom  the  Divine  Word  was  given;  namely,  the  earth,  sun 
and  moon.  Such  indeed  is  the  unmodified  conclusion  which 
this  astro-doctrinal  theme  forces  upon  us.  This  theory  ef- 
fects a  reconciliation,  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  reason 
and  the  senses,  between  the  discrepancies  and  heretofore 
opposing  tendencies  of  science  and  theology.  We  see  how 
amicably  these  things  will  agree  when  once  rightly  under- 
stood. Evidently,  the  apparent  shortcomings  in  these  prov- 
inces are  merely  the  shortcomings  in  the  human  compre- 
sion  and  may  be  entirely  explained  away  when  the  true  in- 
terpretation is  applied  and  the  proper  mode  of  exegesis  dis- 
covered. In  the  true  interpretation  of  science,  one  cannot 
depart  from  the  interpretations  of  the  revelations  of  God. 
Both  are  the  teachings  of  Himself  and  His  wonderful 
works,  though  from  different  sources.  Nor  can  we  be  per- 
suaded that  any  portion  of  the  mysteries  of  Revelation's 
word,  which,  being  given  to  man  for  the  edification  and 
moral  instruction  of  his  race,  shall  to  him  forever  remain  in 
a  latent  hidden  state  of  incomprehensibility.  It  is  said  'there 
is  nothing  hidden  but  shall  be  revealed,  and  nothing  secret 
but  shall  be  made  known/  There  are  signs  and  signals  abun- 
dant enough,  withal,  in  both  nature  and  in  the  book,  where- 
fore to  infer  all  these  things  only  to  surmise  them,  and 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  31 

like  in  mathematical  equations  we  may  in  a  great  measure 
deduce  the  unknown  from  that  which  is  known. 

When  less  of  the  abstract  and  more  of  the  concrete 
enters  into  religion  and  its  teachings,  men  will  be  more 
given  to  believe.  Man  is  a  matter-of-fact  creature,  and  ever 
ready  to  believe  what  he  sees  and  understands,  and  not 
much  more.  He  may  believe  in  mysteries  or  he  may  not,  as 
it  suits  him ;  it  is  difficult  for  him  to  do  so ;  mysteries  are 
anyhow  a  stumbling-block  to  him.  Yet  he  will  never  say 
that  he  does  not  want  to  learn  and  know  about  these  thing's. 
Besides,  why  should  any  cloud  of  obscurity  surround  the 
knowledge  of  the  real  and  exact  locations  of  Heaven  and 
Hell?  Can  anyone  assign  any  reason  why  these  all-im- 
portant places  should  be  kept  secret  and  hid  from  mortal 
vision  ?  No,  the  vagueness  exists  in  the  human  concept,  not 
in  the  reality.  However,  such  is  a  deep-seated  error  that  will 
be  hard  for  a  time  to  remove,  even  like  the  idea  of  the  sun 
being  nothing  but  a  vast  desolate  fire  ball.  We  must  rescue 
ourselves  from  the  old  time-worn  roots  of  nondescriptness 
and  vagueness,  and  let  our  mental  conceptions  put  on  real 
form.  Such  misapprehensions  entrammel  the  mind,  like 
the  people  who  once  believed  the  earth  to  be  flat  regarded 
the  calculation  of  sailing  around  the  globe  as  an  idle,  foolish 
dream. 

This  astro-theory  of  the  doctrine  of  Heaven  and  Hell 
is  purely  non-sectarian.  Nor  does  it  belong  to  any  special 
form  of  religion,  except  that  it  upholds  in  that  measure 
any  and  all  forms  of  doctrine  which  maintain  the  real  ex- 
istence of  these  final  and  everlasting  abodes.  Nor  can 
it  be  urged,  in  the  least,  as  prejudicial  to  the  broadest  ex- 
position of  the  dogmas  and  tenets  of  Christianity.     Our 


32  INTRODUCTION 

position  is  simply  an  original  and  specific  species  of  theo- 
logical solution,  based  on  a  new  phase  of  scientific  discovery. 
Is  it  not  time  that  men  should  know  the  mystery  of  the  sun  ? 
Is  it  not  time  the  world  should  understand  the  deeper  mis- 
sion of  that  bright  and  lofty  miracle  of  power?  Is  it  in 
any  wise  unreasonable  or  derogatory  to  our  most  cherished 
faith  and  sanctity  to  believe  that  solar  Colossus  to  be  the 
See  of  the  Great  God  ?  What  more  befitting  residence  could 
we  either  imagine  or  desire  in  which  to  enshrine  our  be- 
loved Creator,  the  Father  of  all  love  and  goodness  to  whom 
we  daily  pray  ? 

Like  that  of  an  endless  Heaven,  it  is  also  one  of  the 
oldest  teachings  in  religion  that  there  is  somewhere  an 
everlasting  Hell ;  a  place  of  punishment  for  the  wicked  and 
all  evildoers.  It  also  seems  to  be  an  innate  princinle  of 
justification  or  resentment  instinctive  in  the  human  soul 
that  there  ought  to  be,  and  therefore  must  be,  a  place  of 
destruction  for  all  treachery  and  corruption.  The  idea  is 
self-appealing.  Both  nature  and  reason  cry  out  for  such,  de- 
mand such,  establish  such.  Likewise,  reason  and  conscience 
declare  in  favor  of  a  place  of  everlasting  reward  for  the 
virtuous,  the  true,  the  brave,  the  good.  A  place  of  dis- 
franchisement in  the  end  from  the  woes  and  cares  of  a 
troubled  world  like  this.  Places,  these,  'where  the  wicked 
cease  from  troubling  and  the  weary  are  at  rest.'  This  is 
a  doctrine  which  has  its  foundation  in  the  Divine  Word 
and  its  superstructure  in  the  human  breast;  a  doctrine 
which  is  the  hope  of  the  just,  but  the  terror  of  the  wicked. 
Evil  should  be  destroyed,  but  goodness  should  be  rewarded 
with  unending  happiness.  This  is  an  ethical  element  as 
old  as  religion,  and  as  constant  as  day  and  night,  and  the 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  33 

embodiment  of  the  doctrine  is  in  the  two  old-fashioned 
worcls — Heaven  and  Hell !  Places  whose  existence  believers 
are  given  to  affirm,  while  skeptics  are  prone  to  deny;  and 
the  negative  takes  advantage  of  the  shroud  of  vagueness 
and  indefiniteness  ever  surrounding  the  question  of  loca- 
tion and  identical  whereabouts  of  these  nondescript  abodes ; 
until  the  world  is  learning  more  and  more  to  doubt  and  to 
altogether  deny  these  existences  and  to  tauntingly  question 
the  most  orthodox  principles  of  divine  truth,  and  to  even 
refuse  to  accept  as  rational  the  doctrines  of  revealed  fact. 
"Where  is  thy  Heaven;  where  thy  Hell?  Show  us  these 
places,  Theophilis,  or  at  least  tell  us  where  they  are  and  we 
will  believe.'  This,  then,  is  perhaps  the  most  serious  draw- 
back in  religion  in  all  ages,  namely,  the  lack  of  definiteness 
and  concreteness  in  its  teachings.  In  the  field  of  doctrinal 
ethics  there  is  no  obstacle  so  formidable  as  the  snag  of 
uncertainty.  It  gives  boldness  to  iniquity  and  license  to 
immorality  on  every  road  of  invasion,  by  removing  the 
curbstones  of  fear  and  hope  from  a  life  hereafter  and  the 
prospects  of  a  world  to  come,  until  the  prevalence  of  sin 
and  crime,  even  now,  in  our  day,  cries  to  Heaven  for  ven- 
geance ! 

Such  is,  indeed,  the  practical  feasibility  and 
utility  of  this  theo-cosmic  evolution.*  The  mere 
unqualified  intelligence  that  Heaven  is  an  elysian, 
a  paradise,  a  place  of  future  emancipation  and 
felicity  ,  an      incomprehensible      something,     somewhere, 

*  Though  this  is  generally  regarded  as  an  age  of  doctrinal  de- 
cline, it  is  nevertheless  an  age  of  keen  and  thoughtful  inquiry, 
when  the  world  is  grasping  and  sighing  for  a  more  substantial 
form  of  truth  and  light;  in  a  word,  the  world  at  this  time  wants, 
nay,  demands  that  these  things  be  explained. 


3 1  INTRODUCTION 

though  we  know  not  what  it  is,  and  that  Hell  is  a 
dungeon  of  punishment  somewhere  hidden  away;  such  we 
say  is  a  mode  of  explanation  that  does  not  wholly  satisfy  the 
thinking  mind.  Our  reason  desires  something  clearer,  more 
real,  and  even  in  our  best  moments  we  instinctively  revolt 
against  such  shadowy  prospects  of  hope  and  fear.  Not  that 
this  exposition  of  ours  is  intended  as  an  ingenuous  scheme 
to  supply  any  want  or  deficiency  in  either  of  the  depart- 
ments of  science  of  religion.  Our  deductions  are  genuine 
solutions  and  disclosures,  spontaneous  discoveries  as  the 
result  of  years  of  patient  investigation  as  to  why  our  noble 
science  and  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  seemingly  refused 
to  harmonize.  Nor  can  there  be  anything  irreverent  or 
sacreligious  in  this  unveiling  of  Heaven  or  the  unmasking 
of  Hell.  Nor  can  such  be  deemed  an  indignity  beneath  the 
Throne  of  Him  that  liveth  forever  and  ever.  Verily,  verily, 
Heaven  and  Hell  are  the  throne  of  God ;  Hell  represents  the 
\vrath  of  God  and  Heaven  is  like  His  love.  The  jasper 
sphere  is  an  emblem  of  Him  whose  'countenance  shineth 
like  the  sun  in  its  full  strength.' 

On  the  contrary  we  regard  it  as  a  Christian  preroga- 
tive and  duty  of  any  person,  so  disposed,  to  undertake  the 
task  of  inquiry  and  investigation,  provided  he  does  not  con- 
flict with  the  established  and  canonical  principles  of  morals, 
faith,  or  Church.  Methodizing  and  philosophizing  are  in- 
dications of  mental  progress.  To  unfold  the  mysteries  of 
nature  is  to  learn  the  wisdom  of  God.  Truth  is  the  goal 
of  all  human  aspirations,  and  virtue  the  highest  end  of  all 
human  endeavor,  and  the  clearing  up  of  the  mysteries  is 
now  the  richest  boon  which  could  well  be  bestowed  on  a 
world. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  35 

Cosmo-theology  is  the  true  school  in  which  to  explore 
and  expound  the  revelations  of  nature  and  Scripture.  This 
by  uniting  the  two,  and  thus  closing  up  the  vast,  indescrib- 
able gulf  of  blackness  which  has  heretofore  divided  the  two. 
Religion  is  the  core  of  all  true  philosophy,  the  revelation 
also  of  nature.  Such  speculation  cannot  be  reputed,  either, 
as  the  work  of  pulling  clown  any  doctrinal  support  or  edi- 
fice, for  this  is  the  great  edifice  of  religion  that  was  never 
built  up,  the  unfinished  part  of  the  divine  structure. 

Duly  impressed  with  the  mightiness  of  the  import,  and 
fully  apprised  of  the  fact  that  the  value  of  any  theory  con- 
sists only  in  the  essential  truth  it  contains,  we  started  out 
with  such  status  and  datum  as  we  can  offer.  Trusting,  how- 
ever, that  to  show  the  location  of  eternity's  own  abodes  is 
to  prove  their  palpable  existence ;  and  to  prove  their  sensi- 
ble existence  alike  proves  the  existence  of  a  personal  Deity, 
whose  it  is  to  forever  champion  the  cause  of  eternity;  and 
likewise  proves  true  all  that  the  inspired  Book  has  taught, 
and  at  the  same  time  tolls  a  sounding  knell  to  infidelity  and 
crime.  And  when  I  looked  around  and  had  seen  the  reek- 
ings  of  iniquitv  on  the  earth,  I  exclaimed:  'Show  them 
Thy  Heaven,  0  God,  and  show  them  Thy  Hell,  that  a  terror 
might  strike  into  them,  or  else  a  new  spring  of  hope !' 

And  now  we  shall  take  leave  of  hell  with  a  cordial 
adieu,  and,  while  we  may,  most  politely  excuse  ourself  be- 
fore the  bright  laughing  Terror,  hoping  we  may  not  be 
obliged  at  some  future  day  to  'call  again.' 


ARTICLE  III. 
The  Problem  of  Creation 

In  previous  articles  we  exposed  the  doctrine  of  a  solar 
Heaven  and  a  solar  Hell.  We  shall  now,  as  an  introductory 
phase  to  Theory  X,  of  the  body  of  the  work,  undertake  to 
explain  the  origin  and  source  of  Material  Creation  itself. 

Let  us  commence  by  showing  that  angels  fell  from 
Heaven  in  the  past,  and  then  that  these  sinful  angels  were 
cast  into  the  great  Hell  and  were  destroyed,  annihilated ! 
Truly  this  is  the  problem  of  destruction,  but  the  problem  of 
creation  originated  in  and  grew  out  of  the  problem  of  de- 
struction. 

In  proof  of  this  fearful  speculation,  Eevelation  again 
affords  many  striking  and  unmistakable  passages,  espe- 
cially the  following:  'Arid  there  was  a  great  battle  in 
Heaven;  Michael  and  his  angels  fought  with  the  dragon; 
and  the  dragon  fought  and  his  angels,  and  they  prevailed* 
not,  neither  was  their  place  found  any  more  in  Heaven. 
And  that  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  the  old  serpent,  who  is 
called  the  devil  and  Satan,  who  seduceth  the  whole  world; 
and  he  was  cast  forth  unto  the  earth,  and  his  angels  were 
thrown  down  with  him.'     (Rev.  xii:8-9.) 

Like  in  all  matters  of  inquiry  into  the  final  cause  of 
things,  the  first  and  final  cause,  the  Divine  Word  alone  af- 
fords us  any  insight.  Here  we  have  an  instance  of  a  battle 
in  Heaven.     The  battle  was  fought  by  whom?    By  good 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  37 

angels  on  one  side  and  bad  angels  on  the  other  side.    And 
this  was  a  great  battle.    Yes,  a  most  mighty  battle,  such  as 
mortals  hath  never  seen;  great  as  Heaven  is  above  the 
earth,  when  the  archangel  banished  the  serpent  of  the  sun !  * 
Exceedingly    great    and    fierce!    When    the    bad  angels 
knew  they  were  about  to  be  cast  out  of  Heaven  forever,  and 
what  was  still  worse,  they  were  to  be  afterwards  cast  into 
Hell's  fire  to  be  destroyed  and  punished,  was  not  this  the 
strongest  possible  incentive  to  cause  them  to  resist  with  the 
utmost  power  of  their  being?    However,  we  see  they  were 
defeated.     The  bad  are  always  defeated  in  the  end.     No- 
tice, too,  that  the  evil  angels  are  called  'devils  and  satans/ 
tempters.  And  how  in  united  conflict  they  are  designated  as 
'the  dragon.'    How  does  it  come  that  these  bad  angels  taken 
collectively  in  a  united  body  are  described  as  a  dragon,  a 
serpent?    Well,  sin  hath  done  this.     Sin  reduced  them  to 
serpents  or  into  a  serpentine  formation.     Long  eras  of 
celestial  sin  and  transgression  transformed  these  wicked 
angels  into  a  united  serpent.     The  ultimate  consequence 
of  protracted  sin  is  to  effect  this  most  abject  state  of  being. 
Of  course,  the  bad  angels  were  not  reduced  to  the  real  ser- 
pent form  as  yet,  but  before  they  are  destroyed  they  shall 
become  actual  and  real  serpents,  f  This  is  why  they  must  be 


*Hence  is  war  rightly  considered  a  diabolical  invention.  It 
is  the  Devil  who  has  ever  made  war  a  necessity,  both  in  heaven 
and  on  earth. 

tThe  'Serpent'  is,  of  course,  the  lowest  order  of  being,  and 
the  lowest  possible  condition,  on  a  biological  scale,  into  which  any 
being  may  fall.  The  philosophy  of  the  text  is  clear,  from  the  fact 
that  the  constitutional  effect  of  sin  is  to  deteriorate  during  pro- 
tracted ranges  of  time,  the  essential  nature  of  the  being,  which 
degeneration  cannot  otherwise  than,  sooner  or  later,  revert  the 
victim  into  a  lower  form  of  being. 


38  INTRODUCTION 

destroyed,  because  of  the  wickedness  and  depravity  of  their 
very  nature  and  being.  Thus  they  are  in  united  body  called 
the  'old  serpent.'  Besides  it  is  one  of  the  essential  qualities 
of  spirit  being  that  many  spirits  can  unite  themselves,  like 
many  clouds,  into  a  perfect  oneness,  into  one  being,  and 
again,  at  will,  resolve  themselves  into  as  many  separate 
ones. 

At  any  rate,  without  dilating  further  on  this  topic,  we 
see  that  the  dragon  was  cast  out  of  Heaven,  out  from  the 
sun,  so  he  might  with  propriety  be  called  the  solar  Serpent. 
But  this  same  dragon  is  also  described  in  the  Bible  as  a 
'Lucifer.'  The  word  Lucifer  means  light  or  an  angel  of 
light.  And  as  the  consequences  of  his  sin  (for  angels  have 
power  to  sin  if  they  will)  he  became  a  dragon.  Hence  in 
the  prophecies  of  Isaias  we  see  the  following  passage: 
'How  art  thou  fallen,  from  Heaven,,  0  Lucifer,  son  of  the 
morning;  how  are  thou  fallen  to  the  earth/  This  passage 
was  addressed  by  way  of  metaphor  to  the  king  of  ancient 
Babylon.  But  it  nevertheless  alludes  to  the  angel  Lucifer 
as  having  in  reality  fallen  from  Heaven.  And  we  see  in 
the  Gospel  where  Christ,  refering  to  the  fall  of  Satan,  said : 
'I  saw  Satan  fall  from  Heaven  as  lightning.' 

Thus  it  is  beyond  question  that  angels  were  cast  out  of 
Heaven.  And  it  is  likewise  deprehensible,  that  as  angels 
fell,  angels  are  likely  to  fall,  and  that  they  always  were 
liable  to  fall.  Then  by  expatiating  on  the  premises,  and 
knowing  that  the  length  of  time  in  eternity  is  endless,  we 
may  infer  that  the  number  of  angels  who  fell  and  were  cast 
out  of  Heaven  during  eternity's  past,  is  infinite.  Then, 
by  analogy,  extending  the  same  to  any  and  all  of  the  fixed 
stars,  we  have  the  numberless  suns,  heavens,  which  stud 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  39 

the  starry  vault,  multiplied  into  endless  eternity,  produc- 
ing, indeed,  a  multitude  of  which  no  reckoning  could  be 
made.  It  is  a  sad  and  mournful  theme,  though  no  less  true, 
that  destruction  is  the  first  cause  of  creation.  These  angelic 
beings  were,  of  course,  destroyed,  had,  for  cause,  to  be 
destroyed.  Now,  where  is  the  ruins  of  the  past?  Where 
their  ashes,  their  smoke,  their  remains  ?  Where  the  source 
of  creation's  material  ?  The  conclusion  is  unanswerable ; 
the  universe  is  a  Pile  raised  from  the  wreck  of  eternity's 
remains!  Awful,  dreadful!  Beautiful,  glorious!  Like  a 
sunbeam  breaking  through  a  tempest  cloud !  Life  out  o£ 
death ;  creation  rose  anew  out  of  the  smoke  of  the  strife  of 
the  past. 

This  is  no  hypothesis,  or  theory  based  on  imagination ; 
it  is  based  on  the  foundation  of  conceded  and  revealed  the- 
ology, and  simply  expanded  by  induction.  Induction  and  • 
deduction  are  the  two  great  processes  of  reasoning  by  which 
we  may  trace  out  the  unknown  by  the  known.  It  is  the 
exact  and  plain  logic  of  geometry  and  problematic  dem- 
onstration. Why  not  apply  the  same  method  to  theology? 
Yes,  sin  and  angelic  conduct  in  Heaven  predetermines  the 
order  and  creation  of  outer  worlds. 

And  Eevelation  also  shows  that  these  outcasts  of 
eternity  were  dstroyed :  'And  hell  and  death  were  cast  into 
the  pool  of  fire,  which  is  the  second  death'  (xx:14).  The 
first  'death'  in  this  quotation  means  the  angel  of  death  him- 
self, and  the  'second  death'  means  the  death  of  the  spirit. 
And,  fortelling  the  consequences  which  befall  the  wicked 
at  the  last  judgment,  Christ  said:  Then  shall  He  {the 
King)  say  to  them  also  that  shall  he  on  his  left  hand:  De- 
part from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  which  was 


40  INTRODUCTION 

prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels'  (Mat.  xxv).  Now, 
the  ultimate  result  of  hell's  fire  is  to  effect  an  utter  depriva- 
tion of  being.  During  the  course  of  long  ranges  of  cosmic 
time,  they  at  length  become  utterly  consumed,*  when  their 
essence  and  the  substance  of  their  nature  bcomes  all  radi- 
ated off  in  the  form  of  light,  and  disseminated  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  great  deep  of  space.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  these  or  any  beings  suffer  endlessly 
in  hell,  without  becoming  annihilated.  Such  is  absurd 
from  the  fact  that  pain  in  itself  implies  loss,  and  continual 
pain  continual  loss.  But  the  pain  of  a  spirit  being,  suffer- 
ing in  intense  heat,  is  not  like  that  of  weak,  mortal  flesh. 
The  endurance  of  spirit  nature  is  such  as  to  almost  defy 
destruction's  violence,  or  even  pain.  It  is  also  an  absurdity 
to  attribute  an  insubstantial  quality  and  character  to  the 
beings  of  the  supernatural  world,  even  as  Heaven  is  repre- 
sented to  be  some  kind  of  an  immaterial,  hidden  pageant 
world,  an  unreal,  vague  land.  These  are,  though  invisible 
to  us,  the  most  substantial  and  real  of  all  being.  The  most 
perfect  substantiality  and  lasting  durability  characterizes 
the  great  beings  inhabiting  the  realms  of  the  higher  sphere. 
But  in  the  course  of  the  process  of  hell's  destruction  (for 
hell's  fire  will  in  time  destroy  anything)  the  eroded 
part  constantly  goes  off  in  the  form  of  light  radiation  from 


"The  causes  which  led  to  angelic  downfall  is  sin.  Undoubt- 
edly, the  nature  of  this  sin  consisted  in  premature  and  inordin- 
ate deification,  or  beatification  before  the  perfection  of  their  re- 
spective being  was  consummated.  The  effect  of  sin  in  any  being 
is  a  deterioration  of  constitutional  vigor  and  consequent  spiritual 
and  physical  decline,  which  condition  rendered  these  immortals 
more  refractory,  combustible  and  obliterative.  (These  matters 
are  treated  more  at\  length  in  the  body  of  the  work.) 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  41 

the  sun.*  Bright  destruction !  And,  departing,  the  same 
goes  off  into  and  remains  invisible  in  the  infinite  void.  It 
is  the  motion  of  light  which  makes  it  visible ;  as  soon  as  this 
radiant  ether  is  at  rest  and  motionless,  it  then  becomes  in- 
visible. The  motion  of  light  is  intense,  marvelous !  It  is 
said  that  light  travels  at  the  rate  of  186,000  miles  a  second. 

Now  the  main  feature  in  the  issue  of  this  theme  is  to 
explain  that  the  cremated  remains  of  past  destruction  go 
into  the  boundless  void,  the  appropriate  graveyard  of  eter- 
nity's dead.  The  light  going  off  from  the  sun  is  liable  to 
be  in  a  measure  the  bright  smoke  of  spirit  destruction  in  the 
solar  hell ;  likewise  from  the  fixed  stars,  for  these,  too,  are 
universal  hells.  But  the  revelation  of  the  Bible  does  not 
attempt  to  treat  of  anything,  nor  extend  outside  the  prov- 
ince of  the  solar  system.  And  even  there,  the  traditions 
and  legends  are  again  restricted  specifically  to  recent  solar 
time.  That  is,  such  time  as  has  any  direct  connection  with 
the  creation  of  our  planet.  For  the  fall  of  Lucifer  is  the 
first  cause  of  the  creation  of  the  earth.  The  ultimate  and 
perfected  organic  creation  herein  being  destined  and  or- 
dained by  the  Creator  to  supply  and  refill  the  lost  seats  of 
the  fallen  angels  of  the  dragon.  Outside  of  this  our  rev- 
elations has  nothing  to  do.  With  other  planets  our  revela- 
tion has  nothing  to  do.  Back  of  this  certain  date,  nor  with 
the  traditions  of  other  suns,  other  heavens,  other  falls,  other 
issues,  other  rises,  our  God-given  revelations  has  nothing  to 
do. 

*This  is,  of  course,  original  light.  However,  much  of  the  light 
given  off  from  the  sun  consists  in  the  disolved  atomic  elements 
of  burning  metals,  electricity,  etc.,  which  latter  form  of  light 
might  be  called  visible  or  radiant  heat. 


42  INTRODUCTION 

Consequently,  all  else  must  be  inferred.  And  it  is  very 
inferable  that  as  Lucifer  fell  immediately  prior  to  the  rise 
of  terrestrial  creation  and  is  destined  to  be  destroyed,  so  did 
other  mighty  angels  fall  during  solar  eternity,  of  which, 
to  us,  no  mention  is  made.  If  one  angel  fell,  and  was  liable 
to  fall,  so  were  others,  and  that,  too,  from  the  same  Heaven. 
Then  where  is  the  limit?  How  many  seraphs  sinned  and 
fell  ?  We  shall  answer  according  to  the  dictates  of  reason, 
that  as  eternity  is  endless,  and  the  workings  thereof  has  no 
limit,  so  the  number  of  angels  who  fell  is  limitless.  And 
the  same  theory  holds,  by  generalizing,  to  any  and  all  the 
infinitude  of  the  fixed  stars ;  thence  what  is  the  result  less 
than  infinity  multiplied  into  eternity? 

This  is  not  saying  that  the  track  of  the  past  is  all 
strewn  and  whitened  with  the  bones  of  disaster  (for  the 
decline  and  fall  of  celestial  being  is  and  must  be  of  compar- 
atively rare  occurrence,  for  the  reason,  if  no  other,  that 
there  are  no  devils  in  Heaven  to  first  tempt  them  to  sin), 
but  it  is  saying  that  there  are  remains  of  wrecks,  however 
few  and  far  between,  more  or  less  all  the  way.  And  their 
ruins  filled  the  void  blank  of  space  with  the  rare,  invisible, 
intangible,  ethereal  'atmosphere'  of  their  'smoke/  Now,  we 
shall  have  it,  that  this  universal  atmosphere  is  the  grand 
and  eternal  source  from  which  visible  creation  sprung,  and 
from  which  the  material  universe  is  perpetually  wrought. 
Perhaps  this  is  the  chief  development  of  the  theory.  The 
remains  of  angelic  cremation  is  thus  forever  reviving  and 
reforming  into  new  created  matter  and  being,  when  the  in- 
visible becomes  visible,  and  creation  is  made  anew.  Behold, 
said  the  Lord,  7  make  all  things  new.'  The  glorious  universe 
of  suns  and  planets  and  comets  and  stars  and  moons  and 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  43 

worlds,  and  all  manner  of  being  as  dwell  and  subsist  there- 
on, and  which  we  behold  magnificently  risen  and  surmount- 
ingly  filling  the  heights  and  depths,  all  this,  we  say, 
is  but  the  timely  fulfillment  and  survival  from  the  fearful 
past,  or  as  one  would  say,  the  resurrection  of  universal 
death,  eternity's  great,  great  dead !  A  glorious  reclamation 
by  the  power  of  the  living  God  from  the  ruins  of  the  aw- 
ful catastrophies  of  eternity's  long,  long  past  and  infinity's 
stern  dooms ! 

Thinkest  thou  these  things  have  not  happened?  In 
the  realms  of  eternity's  achievements  there  is  nothing  pos- 
sible, good  or  bad,  great  or  small,  happy  or  unhappy,  that 
has  not  happened.  Will  anyone  think  for  a  moment  that 
the  narrow  sphere  of  our  own  observation  and  experience 
circumscribes  the  utmost,  the  extremest  of  all  that  was  ever 
done  ?  Who  can  comprehend  the  achievements  or  measure 
the  possibilities  of  God  and  the  great  workings  of  infinity  ? 
We  are  referring  now  more  explicitly  to  the  negative  side 
of  untold  transpirements ;  transgressions,  curses  and  pun- 
ishments. Even  the  mighty  history  given  to  us  in  the  rev- 
elations of  the  great  Apocalypse,  and  which  is  to  us  so  mys- 
terious and  wonderful,  is  only  a  mite  in  eternity's  record. 
Yes,  great  things  have  happened  of  old;  ancient  strifes, 
whose  records  dire  are  blotted  out  with  age ;  dreadful  won- 
ders, such  as  never  entered  the  minds  of  men ;  presumptuous 
rage,  when  the  unholy  fled  from  the  anger  of  God;  hoary 
sinners  of  antiquity  who  defied  the  Almighty's  wrath  in  the 
day  that  they  fell,  till  a  bereaved  Heaven  paled  at  the 
emptying  of  thrones  from  on  high !  Mighty,  threatening 
felons  of  yore,  who  warred  against  God  in  Heaven,  whom 
the  Lord  God  alone  could  overthrow,  but  they  perished  by 


11  INTRODUCTION 

the  heat  of  the  Omnipotent  'sword'  and  the  fathomless 
deep  is  their  grave.  Notice  the  potent  cause  why  hell  was 
made;  these  enemies  of  creation  would  have  undone  the 
works  of  God  had  not  their  existence  been  thus  deposed. 

It  is  generally  admitted  by  Physicists,  both  ancient  and 
modern,  that  all  space  is  filled  with  an  unknown  medium, 
described  as  being  a  thin,  rare,  invisible  substance  common- 
ly called  'Ether/  'Universal  atmosphere/  'Crystalline  fluid/ 
etc.  Plato  taught  that  the  universe  was  formed  out  of 
pre-existent,  amorphous  matter.  But  this  seems  to  be  as 
far  as  these  speculators  had  gone.  They  did  not  undertake 
to  explain  the  cause  and  origin  of  the  Ether,  nor  did  they 
but  dimly  show  the  character  of  its  nature,  or  the  law  and 
method  by  which  the  same  is  concentrated  into  matter ;  nor 
did  they  resolve  the  same  into  an  universal  Force  which 
confers  the  properties  of  weight  and  motion  to  all  matter. 

As  we  have  already  accounted  for  the  origin  of  this 
celestial  fluid,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  explain  that  the 
character  of  this  ethereal  fluid  is  simply  that  of  an  univer- 
sal Atomic  element.  This  invisible  fluid  simply  consists, 
in  itself,  of  the  original  Atoms  which  enter  into  the  consti- 
tution of  all  matter.  The  Atoms  might  be  defined  as  the 
indivisible  portions,  or  smallest  minims  of  which  any 
substance  is  composed.  Hence,  for  the  sake  of  convenience, 
we  shall  call  this  celestial  ether  the  Atomic  element.  Now, 
this  atomic  element  is  also  of  a  double  nature, which  double- 
ness  is  manifested  first  in  water  in  the  doubleness  of  that 
element,  for  water  is  the  first  form  of  all  matter,  the  first 
visible  formation  into  which  the  celestial  Ether  concentrates 
itself.  Whence  it  is  that  water  is  composed  of  the  two  or- 
iginal elements  of  all  nature,  namely,  oxygen  and  hydrogen. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  45 

Secondly,  the  doubleness  of  the  atomic  element  expresses 
itself  in  the  organic  age,  or  the  age  of  the  creation  of  being, 
in  the  quality  of  sex.  For  male  and  female  are  eternal 
characteristics  of  being,  and  when  eternal  beings  are  des- 
troyed the  doubleness  of  their  nature  is  also  consigned  in 
their  remains.  This  theory,  therefore,  explains  the  mys- 
tery of  sex  in  all  organic  beings. 

But  the  manner  in  which  this  fluid  of  the  boundless 
deep  concentrates  itself  into  matter  is  now  to  be  shown. 
Though  this  part  of  the  theory  is  not  absolute- 
ly new,  yet  it  is  new  in  the  main.  The  manner 
is  that  of  vortices.  Universal  systems  of  vortices 
or  celestial  whirlpools  of  space.  The  great  deep  is  every- 
where concentrating  itself  into  matter  at  certain 
central  points,  and  these  points  are  the  numberless 
suns  or  fixed  stars  of  immensity,  of  which  our  sun  is  the 
central  or  focal  sphere  of  the  solar  whirlpool.  Then  again, 
within  the  vast  solar  vortex,  there  are  several  smaller  ones, 
like  wheels  within  a  wheel,  of  which  the  planets  are  the 
axiel  centers.  Yes,  and  still  other  smaller  ones  within  the 
planet  systems,  with  satellites  as  centers.  Now,  it  is  the 
force  of  the  solar,  vortical  current  that  produces  the  orbit- 
ular  motion  of  the  planets  and  the  rotary  motion  of  the  sun. 
Likewise,  the  revolving  force  of  the  planets'  vortex  affects 
the  rotary  motion  of  the  planet  and  the  orbitular  motion 
of  the  moons. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  element  of  the  great  deep  is  forever 
condensing  itself  into  matter  in  the  form  of  great  spheres. 
Thus  it  is  that  creation  is  risen  posthumously  and 
Phenix-like,  up  and  out  of  the  infinite  disaster  of  angelic 


46  INTRODUCTION 

downfall.  Thus  it  is  that  the  manner  of  eternity's  resurrec- 
tion is  ever  visioned  in  creation's  spangled  habiliment,  and 
in  beings'  and  worlds'  multifarious  modes  and  entities,  in- 
habiting and  investing  the  ever-moving,  ever-rolling  deep, 
and  tangibly  witnessed  in  matter's  ponderous  adjustment, 
poise  and  equipose.  Such  is  the  mystery  of  creation;  de- 
struction is  the  origin  of  creation.  New  creations  cannot, 
need  not  produce,  until  old  ones  are  first  destroyed.  Then 
new  creations  rise  up  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  annihil- 
ated ones.  Out  of  the  wreck  of  the  past  the  future  springs 
anew.  Such  is  the  solution  of  the  mysterv  of  the  'wonder- 
ful works  of  God.  And  behold,  how  now,  a  whirling  uni- 
verse rests  on  rolling  rotundity,  and  immensity  hangs  on 
revolving  Thrones  and  flaming  Shrines,  and  day  and  night, 
and  time  and  years,  race  round  on  rapid  spheres. 

In  conclusion  of  this  subject  it  remains  to  be  reiterated 
that  the  first  condition  in  which  all  matter  exists  is  the 
form  of  water.  The  earth  and  all  the  planets  existed  or- 
iginally in  the  form  of  great  liquid  spheres.  Here,  again, 
omniscient  Scripture  steps  in  to  show  us  how  our  world 
was  made:  'In  the  beginning  God  created  Heaven  and 
earth.  And  the  earth  was  void  and  empty,  and  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  over 
the  waters  (Gen.  i:i-ii).  The  Heaven  here  referred  to  is 
the  terrestrial  firmament. 

The  earth  was  'void  and  empty,'  because  nothing  was 
in  her  sphere  but  water.  Life  was  then  the  first  thing  cre- 
ated within  the  great  virgin  sphere:  life,  animal 
or  vegetable  (first  in  order  the  vegetable  for  wa- 
ter   and    sunlight     soon    breeds    life.      'For    the    dumb 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  47 

water  and  without  life,  brought  forth  living  things  at  the 
command  of  God,  that  all  people  might  praise  they  won- 
drous works.'  The  prolific  waters  of  the  globe  soon  be- 
came pregnant  with  primeval  life,  when  the  mighty  sphere 
soon  commenced  developing  at  the  center,  from  the  settling 
sedimentation,  into  a  solid  concrete  globe.*  The  solid 
sphere  thus  gradually  drew  from  its  center.  Thus  all  plan- 
ets existed  at  first  in  the  state  of  water,  which  afterwards, 
through  the  agency  of  organic  life,  became  by  degrees  con- 
verted into  a  smaller  solid  globe.  Thus  our  planet  is  trans- 
formed into  her  present  advanced  stage  through  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  life  of  her  past  ages,  and  the  proportion  of  her 
once  great  sea  is  reduced  to  its  present  limits. 

*Thus  the  solid  globe  or  the  terra  firma  originated  at  the 
center  of  the  original  sphere.  As  the  neucleus  evolved  and  grew, 
of  course  its  weight  increased,  and  the  force  of  pressure  in  its 
mass  and  matter,  likewise,  increased.  With  the  volume,  increased 
the  ponderance,  and  with  the  ponderance,  the  pressure,  till  the 
augmenting  pressure  became  intense  at  the  focal,  central  point, 
where  it  actually  and  at  length,  caused  the  very  matter  to  burn. 
Thus  were  all  spheres  ignited  early,  for  indeed  a  very  finite  though 
constant  force  of  say  some  few  hundred  tons  per  square  inch,  is 
capable  of  causing  any  matter  to  actually  burn.  Yes,  tremendous 
pressure  caused  the  central  portion  of  the  solid  mass  of  matter 
to  burn;  even  as  pressure  causes  the  sun's  mighty  volume  to 
burn  with  terrible  energy.  But  as  the  focal  center  heated  and 
burned,  it  is  evident  that  the  interior  region  gradually  burned 
out.  Burned  out,  and  became  hollow,  concave,  whence  the  sphere 
became  a  hollow  shell.  Thus  all  celestial  spheres  became  concave 
shells.  And  as  the  evolving  heat  all  goes  out  and  off,  the  interior 
'surface'  became  cool.  Such  is  the  true  philosophy  of  the  hol- 
lowness  of  celestial  spheres. 

Of  course  the  present  state  of  science  on  this  subject  is  to  con- 
tend that  the  earth  and  all  cosmic  bodies  are  solid.  This,  we  must 
say,  is  an  error,  contrary  to  reason  and  diametrically  opposed 
to' the  teachings  of  Scripture.  If  the  earth  were  a  perfect  solid, 
the  increasing  pressure  centerward  would  be  raised  to  infinity  at 
the  central  point,  and  no  finite  substance  is  capable  of  withstand- 


ARTICLE  IV. 

Contraction  of  the  Solar  System 

It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Plenist  that  all  space  is  filled 
with  matter;  that  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  universe 
is  replete  with  a  certain  complement  of  matter,  dense  or 
rare,  light  or  heavy,  visible  or  invisible,  tangible  or  intan- 
gible. The  term  plenist  is  derived  from  plentitude,  and 
plentitude  means  fulness  or  plenty.  That  all  space  is  re- 
plenished with  its  appropriate  complement  of  substance, 
with  no  absolute  blank,  void  nor  emptiness  anywhere,  is 
the  correct  philosophy  of  the  plentitudinarian.  No  unused 
or  unoccupied  territory  in  the  infinite  providence  of  the 
infinite  God.  And  some  plenists  extend  the  theory  to  the 
purpose  that  the  mode,  form,  order  and  design  of  all  things 
in  the  universe,  taken  as  a  whole,  consists  in  the  most  per- 
fect possible  condition.  This  doctrine  is  practically  true. 
But  in  the  visible  universe,  everything  might  rather  be  con- 
sidered as  existing  in  the  progressing,  evolutionary  state. 
However,  it  seems  this  class  of  philosophers  did  not  push 
their  investigations  in  search  either  of  the  origin,  or  'first 
cause,'  on  one  hand,  nor  the  development  of  matter  on  the 
other  hand.     Like  many  of  the  most  important  discoveries 

ing  an  infinite  force.  Indeed,  it  is  the  force  of  intense  pressure 
that  finally  resolves  all  matter  into  heat,  and  that  at  a  great 
depth.  Besides  Revelation  declares  in  most  positive  terms  that 
the  interior  of  the  earth  is  the  'Bottomless  Pit.'  (See  Apoc. 
iX:l-2  and  xiii :  11  and  xvji:8.) 


THE  SEVEN"  AGES  49 

in  the  field  of  invention,  these  matters  were  left  to  await  the 
result  of  modern  thought  and  research.  And,  in  our  mite 
of  investigation,  we  find  it  evident  from  more  than  one 
view  of  the  question,  that  visible  creation  came  forth  from 
the  plentitude  of  the  inane,  dead  depths,  and  that  all  the 
works  of  God  are  visible  in  the  form  of  great  spheres ;  even 
Heaven  and  Hell  are  visible,  material  creations;  yes,  these 
two  special  productions  stand  out  as  the  main,  chiefest  and 
most  prominent  of  God's  works  in  the  universe. 

The  solar  system  and  the  solar  systems,  or  the  number- 
less systems  of  the  great  universe  with  suns  as  their  centers, 
may  each  be  regarded  as  an  integer  or  a  unit  in  itself,  dis- 
tinct and  separate,  and  existing  in  a  state  according  to  the 
common  law  of  systems.  The  solar  system  consists  of  the  sun 
at  its  center,  and  eight  or  nine  planets  revolving  around 
that   center  at  various  distances,   from   35,392,000  miles 
or  the  distance  of  Mercury,  to  that  of  Neptune,  or  2,746,- 
271,000  miles;  all  revolving  in  the  same  direction,  i.  e., 
from  west  to  east,  or  in  the  directions  of  the  hands  of  a 
watch  facing  north.    Now  this  vast  system  is  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  an  immense  whirlpool  of  ethereal  space  crys- 
talizing  into  matter,  and  carrying  this  matter  around  about 
with  itself,  and  likewise  slowly  but  surely  downward  to- 
wards the  common  Center.     It  is  a  common  principle  of 
philosophy  seen  in  everyday  life,  that  whenever  liquid  or 
fluid  seeks  a  center,  as  when  poured  into  a  funnel,  a  rotary 
motion  is  established.     So  it  is  with  the  element  of  space, 
seeking    those    great    centers;     a    vast,    cosmic    whirl- 
pool is  established.     And  as  sure  as   the   current    carries 
the  generated  matter  around  with  it,  so  surely  does  it  con- 
stantly draw  the  same  matter,  though  imperceptibly,  to- 


50  [INTRODUCTION 

wards  the  central  point.  The  solar  system  is  contracting 
and  settling  sunward.  The  orhits  of  the  planets  are  dimin- 
ishing, and  the  time  will  come  when  the  planets  shall  fall 
to  the  sun,  when  the  earth  shall  fall  to  the  sun,  and  be 
burned  up !  Such  is  the  end  of  all  matter ;  to  burn  is  the 
end  of  all  matter  in  the  fires  of  hell ;  for,  the  sun  is  the  solar 
Pyre! 

The  first  step  in  the  production  of  matter  is  to  orig- 
inate, but  the  second  step  is  to  densify.  Matter  originates 
in  the  rarest  form  (water  in  either  the  liquid  or  gaseous 
state)  and  through  the  slow  and  gradual  processes  of  time, 
it  concentrates  and  densifics  into  the  heavy  solid  form,  as 
clay,  rock,  ore,  metal.  So  it  is  with  the  solar  system.  So 
it  is  with  each  and  every  planet  and  body  in  that  system. 
All  matter  originated  in  the  form  of  water  and  ends  in  that 
of  metal  and  fire. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  essay  to  demonstrate  from  the 
provinces  both  of  science  and  theology  that  the  solar  system 
is  contracting  and  concentrating  towards  the  sun.  {On 
page  17  of  the  Aqueous  Age  see  table  of  solar  system  show- 
ing the  distances,  densities,  size,  force  of  gravity,  etc.,  of  the 
various  mem b ers. ) 

By  taking  a  general  survey  of  the  stupendous  structure, 
we  see  as  a  rule  that  the  planets  more  and  most  remote  from 
the  sun  are  much  the  largest  bodies ;  not  only  this,  but  they 
are  likewise  the  rarest  and  lightest,  about  the  density  or 
less  than  that  of  water.  The  density  of  Neptune  is  esti- 
mated at  .96,  water  taken  as  1;  that  of  Mercury,  or  the 
nearest  known  planet  to  the  sun,  7.03 ;  or,  Mercury  is  more 
than  seven  times  as  solid  and  dense  as  Neptune.    Between 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  51 

these  two  bodies  the  other  planets  increase  their  density 
very  nearly  on  a  graduated  scale.  That  of  earth  is  5.67. 
The  specific  gravity  of  Neptune  is  about  equal  to  that  of  wa- 
ter, while  that  of  Mercury  is  about  the  same  as  that  of  cast 
iron.  This  goes  to  show  that  the  remote  bodies  are  of  most 
recent  origin,  while  the  age  of  Mercury  is  comparatively 
very  great.  It  is  small,  old  and  dense,  and  its  location  away 
down  near  the  sun.  When  the  other  members  reach  this 
solar  position,  they  will  undoubtedly  be  the  same  in  form 
and  substance,  and,  conversely,  when  Mercury  originated,  it 
was  away  out  in  the  depths  of  space,  even  beyond  the  orbit 
of  Neptune.  The  change  of  transformation  is  due  to  the 
results  of  organic  life,  and  then  to  the  subsequent  effects 
of  time,  pressure  and  heat.* 

It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  original  size  of 
all  the  planets  was  the  same.  The  original  size  of  Jupiter 
was,  without  doubt,  the  largest,  and  that  of  Mars  possibly 
the  smallest.  But  it  is  obvious  that  these  bodies  do  all 
decrease  in  size  from  first  to  last,  with  age  and  the  natural 
evolution  of  matter,  even  until  the  sun  is  reached.    Though 

*The  Nebular  Hypothesis  as  advanced  by  La  Place  (see  p.  517) 
accounts  for  the  formation  of  the  solar  system  by  the  theory  of 
the  process  of  Nebular  Condensation.  This  theory  cannot  hold, 
for  the  reason,  first,  if  the  sun  had  given  off  the  planets  sever- 
ally in  turn,  why  have  not  the  outer  members  condensed  as  well 
as  the  sun  and  inner  members?  Secondly,  why  did  not  the  same 
power  of  attraction  which  effected  the  sun's  condensation,  effect 
a  corresponding  simultaneous  condensation  of  any  and  all  matter 
in  the  solar  system,  and  thus  cause  the  matter  of  the  planets 
to  also  settle  towards  the  sun's  center?  The  orbitular  motion  of 
the  planets  could  not,  in  that  case  be  greater  than  the  rotary  mo- 
tion of  the  sun's  surface  at  the  time  the  lesser  body  was  thrown 
off.  For  the  orbitular  motion  of  the  planet  is,  in  that  case,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  derived  directly  from  the  rotary  motion  of 
the  sun.     But  the  principle  of  perpetual  motion  of  the  heavenly 


52  INTRODUCTION 

there,  the  intense  and  repellant  force  of  the  sun's  heat  keeps 
the  matter  of  that  huge  body  much  rarefied.  As  it  is  com- 
puted the  sun's  density  is  only  1.43. 

So  much  for  the  argument  of  size  and  density  in  prov- 
ing the  theory.  We  shall  now  produce  a  very  different  and 
no  less  cogent  phase  of  argument,  in  respect  to  the  num- 
ber and  order  of  satellites  belonging  to  the  various  planets, 
as  a  means  in  the  way  of  demonstrating  the  doctrine  of  solar 
consolidation.  As  the  solar  system  is  slowly  contracting, 
so,  likewise,  are  the  several  planetary  systems;  and  as  the 
planets  are  falling  towards  the  sun,  so  the  same  law  holds 
regarding  the  satellites,  which  are  no  less  surely  descending 
to  their  respective  planets.  Behold  the  manifest  and  tell- 
ing reason  why  the  oldest  bodies  nearest  to  the  sun  are 
moonless !  Behold  the  why  and  wherefore  that  the  remotest 
members,  as  a  rule,  have  many  satellites  as  yet  revolving 
about  them. 

It  is  an  uncontroverted  astronomic  fact,  long  since 
proven  by  the  power  of  telescopic  observation  (it  being  no 
hypothesis  or  supposition)  that  the  planets  as  they  recede 
from  the  great  solar  center  have  an  almost  uniform  increase 

bodies  is  as  preposterous  as  is  the  same  law  in  the  wheels  of  ma- 
chinery; the  motion  of  the  planets  must  be  kept  up  by  constant, 
external  force.  And,  thirdly,  how  could  it  happen  in  the  vagrious, 
sun-tossing  sport,  that  the  worlds  were  thrown  off  in  such  and 
regular  order?  Although  the  theory  of  the  Nebular  Hypothesis 
cannot  be  the  true  one,  yet  we  must  admire  the  unique  and  con- 
cinnate  conception,  and  the  originality  of  the  mind  which  gave 
it  birth.  However,  it  is  plain,  when  considered  from  a  new  point 
of  view,  that  the  same  originating  means  which  produced  the 
original  solar  'cloud,'  must  still  continue  in  the  production  of 
new  matter;  and  the  same  all-comprehending  force  which  effected 
the  condensation  of  the  primitive  nebulae,  must  still  continue  to 
effect  solar  consolidation  and  the  consequent  contraction  of  the 
planetary  orbits. 


THE  SEVEN"  AGES  53 


S> 


in  the  number  of  moons  revolving  about  them.  Why  is 
this  ?  Saturn,  the  third  outside  the  earth,  has  eight  moons. 
Jupiter,  the  second  planet  outside  ours,  has  four  moons. 
Mars,  the  first  outside  our  planet,  has  two  moons.  It  is 
needless  to  say  the  earth  has  only  one  moon;  while  Venus 
and  Mercury,  the  planets  between  the  earth  and  sun,  have 
no  nocturnal  companions  whatever.*  Why  is  this?  Why 
has  a  tree,  late  in  autumn,  less  leaves  than  it  had  in  mid- 
summer? The  cause  is  very  apparent.  The  leaves  have 
fallen.  So  it  is  with  the  moons.  The  planets  late  in  the 
year  of  their  existence  have  their  satellites  all  fallen  down. 
Unfledged  science  mav  lisp  that  the  present  condition  of  the 
solar  universe  is  fixed  and  unchangeable,  but  we  know  it  is 
not.  It  is  forever  changing.  Evolution  is  the  fixed  and  un- 
changeable law  of  all  matter,  and  evolution  implies  con- 
stant and  perpetual  change.  The  present  is  only  one  pass- 
ing mode  of  condition  in  the  perpetual  and  incessant  change 
of  all  nature,  matter,  worlds. 

But  the  duration  of  cosmic  time  is  so  great  that  the. 
progress  of  these  transpirations  are  imperceptible  to  us. 
The  age  of  man  on  the  earth  is  of  comparatively  such  a 
little  time ;  six  thousand  years  are  but  a  second  of  eternity, 
a  swing  of  the  cosmic  pendulum !  The  change  is  so  small 
and  the  works  of  God  so  immense,  that  human  obser- 
vation during  a  decade  of  only  a  few  thousand  years  is  not 
able  to  detect  any  permanent  change  in  either  the  form 
nor  magnitude  of  the  solar  fabric,  while  the  more  prying 

*It  is  probable  that  those  extreme  members  of  solar  activity 
have  more  satellites  than  they  receive  credit  for.     On  account  of 
»  their  extreme  distance  it  is  difficult  to  see  those  little  bodies  even 
with  the  best  instruments. 


54  INTRODUCTION 

observation  of  instruments  is  in  vogue  not  more  than  a 
few  centuries.  Indeed,  the  knowledge  of  the  workings  of 
the  solar  system,  like  that  of  almost  every  other  depart- 
ment of  science  still  in  its  infancy,  has  been  for  the  most 
part  a  grand  mystery  to  the  naturalist  and  astronomer. 

The  process  of  concentration  and  consolidation  is  the 
most  important  one  which  transpires  with  respect  to  the 
evolution  of  matter,  after  matter  has  once  originated,  and 
is  the  very  factor  of  investigation  which,  above  all,  has  re- 
ceived least  attention.  This  argument  of  the  disappearance 
of  satellites  proves  conclusively  that  the  planets  are  all  by 
degrees  descending  to  the  sun,  and  that  the  older  members 
are  nearest  the  solar  maelstrom.  That  the  members  with 
many  satellites  are  the  newest,  largest,  rarest  and  remotest 
from  the  sun,  and  vice  versa,  those  near  the  common  center 
are  small,  dense,  old  members  whose  moons  have  long  since 
fallen,  collapsed ! 

Who  will  say  the  earth  never  had  any  moon  but  one? 
Will  anyone  say  the  beautiful  planet  Venus  never  had  any 
satellite  to  lighten  the  sky  of  her  night?  Or  that  Saturn 
shall  forever  have  eight  moons  to  illuminate  his  nocturnal 
dome?  Or  will  anyone  declare  that  the  sun  and  solar 
system  never  had  any  other  planets,  or  never  shall  have  any 
other  than  it  now  has  ?  Will  anyone  say,  on  seeing  a  great 
tamarind  blooming  in  midsummer  verdure,  that  those 
leaves  are  the  only  ones  which  that  tree  has  ever  had,  or 
ever  will  have?  Like  a  great  solar  Tamarind,  this  convex 
system  has  had  many  planets  (cosmic  leaves  or  fruit)  which 
during  secular  ages  of  the  past  have,  one  by  one,  convolved 
down  to  the  sun  and  become  annihilated.     And  likewise, 


THE  SEVEN"  AGES  55 

during  the  future  half  of  the  sun's  eternity  (the  duration 
of  which  cannot  be  reckoned)  millions  and  billions  of  un- 
seen, unborn  worlds  shall  wind  their  way  down  out  of  the 
labyrinths  of  solar  immensity,  and  in  turn  be  burnt  up ! 
The  surface  of  the  sun,  that  fiery  pool  burning  with  brim- 
stone, is  the  solar  incinerary  where  is  consumed  the  rubbish 
of  the  solar  system,  and  the  common  and  dignified  title  of 
the  place  is  Hell ! 

The  perpetual  process  of  creation  and  destruction  is 
the  one  grand  history  of  solar  cosmogony.  Matter  comes  to 
the  sun  in  the  form  of  planets  and  worlds,  and  departs  in 
the  form  of  heat  and  light.  All  the  matter  of  the  solar 
system  is  forever  being  thus  transformed  into  radiation  and 
sent  back  again  into  the  vast  convex  of  the  solar  depths,  or 
farther.  All  matter  begins  in  the  form  of  water  and  ends 
in  the  form  of  fire.  A  planet  originates  in  the  form  of  a 
water  sphere  and  ends  in  solar  combustion  by  being  de- 
voured on  the  sun.  Thus  the  perpetual  process  of  creation 
and  destruction  is  the  solution  of  the  mystery  of  the  uni- 
verse of  matter.  And  the  purpose  of  a  planet's  creation  is 
that  a  new  angel  (for  many  spirits  make  an  angel)  be  de- 
rived therefrom  to  finally  take  his  place  as  a  denizen  in  the 
solar  Heaven.  Neither  is  there  any  dwelling  place  in  the 
whole  universe  of  creation  on  which  any  being  may  live 
and  dwell,  except  on  spheres.  Spheres,  great  spheres,  celes- 
tial spheres,  cosmic  spheres,  or  whatever  name  we  may  call 
them  by,  are  the  only  habitable  places  which  there  are  or 
can  be,  for  gods,  angels  or  men.  There  is  no  place  where 
any  living  being  may  dwell  or  subsist  unless  it  be  on,  or  in 
a  cosmic  sphere.  All  the  rest  is  void;  the  void,  the  blank 
desolate  element  and  'graveyard'  of  universal  death.     And 


56  INTRODUCTION 

when  a  planet  has  completed  the  mission  of  its  creation,  the 
worthy  souls  thereon  are  taken  into  the  Heaven ;  the  rest, 
all  the  rest,  matter,  spirit,  etc.,  is  simply  cast  into  the  solar 
furnace  and  consumed. 

The  sun's  great  globe  grew  to  its  present  size  from  the 
aggregated  deposition  of  fallen  planets  during  the  solar 
past,  until  its  present  volume  is  computed  to  be  about  equal 
to  1,300,000  globes  the  size  of  the  earth.  Eeckoning  from 
this  standpoint  alone,  it  is  evident  that  at  least  1,300,000 
planets  of  average  size  are  now  compiled  in  the  sun's  mass. 
But  when  we  know  that  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  solar 
matter  thus  amassed  to  the  center  has  been  radiated  back 
again  into  space  in  the  form  of  heat  and  light,  and  that 
the  growth  and  accretion  of  the  central  body  is  simply  and 
singly  the  result  of  the  excess  of  this  descended  matter,  then 
how  shall  we  attempt  to  ascertain  the  approximate  number 
of  planets,  of  worlds  that  have  been,  which  originated  in 
the  solar  system  and  fell  to  the  sun  ?  The  figures  must  be 
enormous,  if  expressible  at  all,  practically  numberless. 

The  same  goes  to  show  the  number  of  Angels  and 
spirit  beings,  created  by  reason  of  these  banished  worlds, 
is  likewise  numberless.  But  though  large  as  the  concave 
Heaven  is,  it  could  not  contain  numberless  beings.  Not- 
withstanding the  amplitude  of  the  Empyrean,  it  is  never- 
theless insufficient  to  receive  an  infinite  host.  Hence,  it  is  ob- 
vious that  angels  are,  at  times  being  fallen  and  cast  out  of 
Heaven  and  destroyed.  Thus,  again,  is  it  conclusive  that 
as  the  perpetual  process  of  creation  and  destruction  is  the 
philosophy  of  material  creation,  so,  likewise,  is  eternal  birth 
and  eternal  death,  creation  and  destruction  in  perpetualis, 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  57 

the  grand  law  and  history  of  angelic  being*  Not  that  any 
being  is  predoomed.  No  one  shall  fall,  can  fall,  but 
through  the  free  agency  and  angelic  prerogative  of  free 
will.  The  invisible  universe  stands  on  the  free  exercise  of 
angelic  free  will.  Should  eternal  beings  cease  to  sin  and 
fall  and  be  overcome  on  high,  the  pageantry  of  visible  cre- 
ation would  in  time  cease  to  exist,  perhaps,  except  the  thin 
transparent  textures  of  empyrean  spheres — though  the 
probability  is  that  matter  will  never  wholly  become  extinct, 
since  as  beings  may  fall,  they  will  fall. 

But  to  return  again  from  these  metaphysical  specula- 
tions back  to  the  physical,  the  earth  being  neither  the 
youngest  nor  the  oldest  of  planets,  has  yet  one  moon  left, 
one  only,  because  her  satellites  are  all  fallen  but  one.  Our 
planet  has  had  many  satellites  in  her  day,  and  the  periodic 
fall  and  collision  of  these  little  orbs  of  destiny  correspond 
theogonically  to  the  "Days  of  Creation"  spoken  of  by  Moses 
in  the  initial  of  the  Lord's  Book.  Here  is  another  mystery 
cleared  up  !  The  Catalycisms  of  these  moons  were  each  and 
severally  the  beginning  and  ending  of  a  Creative  Day. 
The  term  'day'  as  here  used  means  a  long  period  of  time, 
a  geological  age  in  the  progress  of  the  earth's  natural  his- 
tory.   St.  Augustin,  in  the  fourth  century,  called  these  'in- 

*Eternal  Being.  This  appelation  applies  to  the  Supreme  and 
Angelic  Being  which  has  existed  throughout  eternity.  But  the 
epithet  does  not  imply  that  all  such  Being  has  always  existed, 
nor  that  all  such  shall  always  exist.  It  does  mean  that  any  and 
all  perfect  spirit  Being,  either  in  the  form  of  angels,  archangels, 
seraphim,  paracletes,  cherubim,  may  and  shall  exist  forever,  unless 
such  responsible  being  sin  and  fall  and  are  destroyed.  Such  being 
otherwise  can  and  must  live  forever.  Spirit  being  cannot  die 
unless  actually  destroyed  by  Hell's  fire. 


58  INTRODUCTION 

effable  days,  alterations  of  births  and  pauses  in  the  work 
of  the  Almighty,  boundaries  of  periods  in  the  vast 
evolution  of  worlds.'  Each  day  was  in  fact  a  world 
birth  and  a  world  death,  giving  rise  to  as  many 
distinct  and  successive  creations  of  animal  and 
vegetable  life.  Each  of  the  several  cosmic  con- 
vulsions probably  destroyed  and  wiped  out  almost 
every  vestige  of  life  and  being  then  existing  on  the 
face  of  the  planet;  when  the  life  of  each  'day'  was  succeeded 
by  a  new  and  higher  type  of  existence,  each  cosmogony  be- 
ing the  divine  result  of  a  special  creative  act;  not  a  'sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,'  but  an  absolutely  new  created  stock; 
each  succeeding  genera,  fauna  and  flora  being  an  improve- 
ment on  its  predecessor. 

Evidently  the  earth  had  six  satellites.  On  the  eve  of  the 
first  Day  the  first  and  nearest  moon  fell.  On  the  close  of 
of  the  seventh  great  and  greatest  Day  the  earth  will  fall  to 
the  sun.  The  planet  will  approach  the  awful  Center  to  such 
nearness  that  the  energy  of  the  sun's  force  will  overwhelm 
and  dissolve  the  planet.  An  Icarian-like  disaster,  as  if 
the  little  world  were  wont  to  flee  away  in  consternation 
from  the  nearness  of  the  horror  of  Hell !  Then  shall  be  veri- 
fied that  which  the  prophet  wrote,speaking  of  the  earth's  far 
distant  future,  that  he  saw  in  the  favored  vision :  'A  great 
white  throne  from  whose  presence  the  earth  and  Heaven* 
fled  away  and  henceforth  could  not  be  found/  And  then 
he  said :  'An d  I  saw  the  dead,  great  and  small,  standing 
before  the  throne,  and  the  books  were  opened/  Yes,  after 
time,  cometh  eternity ;  after  the  world  of  man  cometh  the 
world  of  God. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  59 

As  a  planet  dissolves  on  its  near  approach  to  the  sun, 
just  so  and  for  the  same  reason  do  the  satellites  dissolve 
when  they  descend  to  within  a  certain  nearness  to  their 
primaries.  The  physical  cause  is  the  dismanteling  of  the 
lesser  bodies  creative  vortex,  when  the  force  of  gravity 
which  holds  its  matter  together  is  hereby  made  to  cease. 
Even  now  our  moon  has  little  or  no  vortex  of  her  own,  as 
is  proven  by  the  subsidence  of  her  axiel  motion.  However, 
it  will  be  many  thousand  years  yet  before  the  moon  falls. 
This,  then,  will  be  the  'end  of  the  world,'  or  the  'end  of 
time,'  so  notably  spoken  of  by  the  prophets.  The  'end  of 
time'  simply  means  the  end  of  propagation  or  reproduction 
of  the  race  of  man,  for  the  precipitation  of  the  shattered 
satellite  will,  at  that  time  destroy  our  race.  This,  in 
quite  the  same  manner  as  the  fall  of  previous  satellites,  had 
wiped  out  the  living  organic  'worlds'  then  existing,  and 
'evening  and  morning'  will  close  the  'sixth  day.'  Then  shall 
the  dead  rise  on  the  morning  of  the  great  Sabbath,  or  the 
seventh  great  day. 

Now  the  question  most  prominently  arises :  When  will 
the  moon  fall  ?  How  long  till  the  end  of  time  ?  How  long, 
how  long,  till  the  day  of  wrath  cometh  ?  Well,  science  can- 
not tell  us  this.  Though  science  has  told  us  many  things 
and  wonders,  yet  she  has  so  far  failed  to  relate  to  us  the  dis- 
tance of  the  end  of  time.  We  may,  however,  infer  many 
things  relating  to  this  question  from  astronomical  lore.  We 
may  infer  that  the  moon  will  fall  before  the  earth  has 
reached  the  present  orbit  of  her  next  neighbor,  namely,  the 
planet  Venus.  Venus  is  66,000,000  miles  from  the  sun, 
while  we  are,  as  yet,  91.500,000  miles  away.  The  distance 
between  the  two  orbits  is  35,500,000  miles.     Somewhere 


60  INTRODUCTION 

within  the  limits  of  this  cosmic  domain  shall  the  moon 
'cease  to  give  her  light'  as  the  gospel  fortells,  and  the  earth 
will  become  a  moonless  planet.  But  as  to  this  precise  time, 
science  stops  short,  or  rather  waits  so  as  to  allow  her  super- 
ior and  older  sister,  the  Divine  Word,  to  step  in  and  march 
in  advance. 

The  great  prophecy  tells  us  that  the  two  witnesses 
(Moses  and  Elias)  'shall  prophesy  1260  days'  (xi  3).  Also 
it  says:  They  shall  feed  the  woman  (i.  e.,  the  woman 
clothed  with  the  sun)  1260  days'  (xii:  6).  And  at  the  end 
of  time  the  seventh  trumpet  shall  sound.  Yes,  when  time 
the  'tomb-builder'  has  all  the  tombs  built,  and  the  graves  of 
the  earth  must  render  back  their  borrowed  dead !  Now, 
the  only  question  arises:  What  is  the  length  of  each  of 
these  1260  days?  Decipher  that  and  we  have  it  all  in  a 
nutshell.  Well,  here  it  is:  the  length  of  time  required 
for  each  generation  of  our  race,  is  thirty-three  and  one-third 
years.  The  length  of  the  life  of  Christ,  who  is  called  'The 
ancient  of  days'  (Dan.  vii :  13)  is  also  thirty-three  and  a 
third  years.  This  then  will  allow  1260  generations  of  our 
race  to  rise  and  fall  between  the  first  coming  of  our  Lord 
and  the  end  of  time.  One  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty 
multiplied  by  33  1-3  years  gives  an  aeonian  product 
of  42,000  years.  It  is  also  foretold  that  the  Beast  shall 
'act  forty-two  months,'  each  of  which  months  shall,  we  un- 
derstand, comprise  a  period  of  one  thousand  years.  How- 
ever, we  must  somewhat  retract  by  saying  that  in  Daniel's 
prophecy,  the  stated  time  is  one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
ninety  days  (xii;6).  But  evidently  Daniel  phophesied  from 
the  dedication  of  Solomon's  temple,  and  which  took  place 
one  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ.    This  great 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  61 

temple  was  the  'first  house  which  was  huilt  to  God  on  the 
earth/  and  from  which  the  date  of  the  Tioly  city'  com- 
mences (see  Daniel  ix:24-27).  This  would  allow  43,000 
years  from  the  completion  of  the  temple  until  the  last  end. 
It  is  noticeable  that  there  are  at  least  three  discriptive  days. 
First  the  calendar  day,  consisting  of  twelve  hours;  second 
the  creative  day,  involving  a  grand  period  of  100,000  years; 
and  thirdly,  the  genessial  day,  or  the  day  of  a  generation, 
which  obviously  shows  itself  to  consist  of  thirty-three  and 
one-third  years.  This  calculation,  then,  will  establish  the 
close  of  time  at  42,000  years  after  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era.  'Then  thiclc  hail  shall  be  cast  upon  them 
(the  ungodly)  from  the  stone-casting  wrath:  the  waters  of 
the  sea  shall  rage  against  them,  and  the  rivers  shall  run  to- 
gether in  a  terrible  manner/     (Wisdom  v :  23.). 

As  before  explained,  the  moon  will  not  precipitate  bod- 
ily against  the  planet,  for  such  a  world  collision  might  cause 
irreparable  disaster,  but  in  the  form  of  calamitous  and 
earth-shaking  showers  of  meteors  large  and  small;  'great 
hail. 'And  the  dreadful  rock  'storm'  will  continue  a  consider- 
able length  of  time,  commencing  with  the  great  earthauake, 
'when  every  mountain  and  the  island  shall  be  moved  out  of 
their  places  (Apoc.  vi:  14).*  Another  of  these  cataclysms 
is  described  thus:     'And  there  was  (in  the  vision)  light- 

*It  is  a  noted  fact  that  Geologists  are  unanimous  in  admit- 
ting that  the  earth  has,  from  time  to  time,  undergone  periodic 
ordeals  and  convulsions  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  subvert- 
ing character.  Evidences  of  which  are  evervwhere  tracable  in  the 
general  broken  irregularity  of  the  terrestrial  crust;  and  in  the 
various  ages  and  formations  of  rocks  and  ledges,  aqueous  and 
igneous,  stratified  and  unstratified,  all  thrown  promiscuously  to- 
gether at,  or  near,  the  surface;  and  in  the  presence  of  ores,  er- 


62  INTRODUCTION 

nings  and  voices  and  a  great  earthquake.'  'And  there  were 
voices  and  lightnings  and  an  earthquake  and  great  hail.' 
But  the  final  shock  shall  be  the  severest.  'And  there  were 
lightnings  and  voices  and  thunders :  and  there  was  a  great 
earthquake,  such  as  never  hath  been  seen  since  men  were 
upon  the  earth:  an  earthquake  so  great.  *  *  *  And 
every  island  fled  away,  and  the  mountains  were  not  found.' 
All  these  were  prophetical  visions  of  the  future  which  the 
sacred  writer  had  seen. 

In  conclusion  of  this  theme,  it  remains  to  be  said  that 
the  terrestrial  revulsion  caused  by  the  precipitation  of  the 
recent  and  last  satellite,  and  which  must  have  occured  long 
before  the  creation  of  man,  undoubtedly  left  the  earth's 
crust  in  a  fearful  shape,  so  that  the  work  of  the  elements 
during  centuries  was  necessary  in  order  to  subdue  and  even 
the  planet's  surface  after  the  wreck,  to  render  it  habitable. 
Behold,  herein  is  solved,  with  many  others,  the  mystery  of 
the  uprising  of  the  present  continents  and  the  sinking  of 
the  ocean  beds.  Likewise,  herein,  is  explained  the  prob- 
lem of  the  earth's  protuberances,  the  upheaval  of  the 
mountains  and  the  cause  of  their  origin. 


rupted  masses,  fossiliferous  remains;  and  especially  in  volcanoes, 
ranges  and  mountain  phenomena.  In  all  this,  science  positively 
asserts  that  something  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  has 
surely  happened.  But,  up  to  this,  it  is  a  no  less  singular  fact, 
that  geology  has  failed  to  determine  the  secret  which  has  led  to 
such  catastrophisms. 


ARTICLE    V. 

The  Origin  of  Man 

'And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  earth 
and  breathed  into  his  face  the  breath  of  life;  and  man 

became  a  living  soul'  (Gen.  ii:  7). 
On  the  question  of  the  origin  of  our  race,  much  indeed 
has  been  said  and  written,  and  much  more  might  still  be 
said  without  arriving  at  the  core  of  facts.  Also  have  vol- 
umes been  filled  with  endless  endeavor  to  explain  the  mys- 
tery of  the  'Fall  and  Redemption.'  Many  claiming  that  the 
'Trees'  of  Life  and  Knowledge,  etc.,  were  some  common 
species  of  the  wooded  forest  and  bearing  such  transcendent 
fruit  in  those  days  in  the  paradise  of  that  ancient  Eden 
as  to  be  capable  of  conferring  to  the  partaker  thereof  the 
blessing  of  life  or  the  curse  of  death.  Others  regard  those 
wonderful  trees  as  of  purely  mythical  origin,  only  symboliz- 
ing therein  certain  attributes  of  our  race.  Others  mistrust 
the  authenticity  of  the  story  altogether,  disclaiming  cre- 
dence likewise  to  the  described  origin  of  man,  as  given  in 
those  first  chapters  of  the  Pentateuch.  They  venture  to 
prove  that  the  great  wall  of  China  and  the  Ep^-^tian  pyra- 
mids are  anyhow  more  than  6,000  years  old,  and  thus  ante- 
date the  biblical  story  of  our  origin.  Still  others  find  that 
the  petrified  remains  of  human  giants  testify  that  man  was 
created  in  a  primeval  state  more  than  a  million  years  ago. 
Others  again  of  the  Praterist  school  imagine  that  although 
the  biblical  accounts  be  true,  and  that  although  our  race 
has  existed  only  6,000  years,  everything  is  nevertheless 


G-4  INTRODUCTION 

already  quite  accomplished,  and  every  new  rumor  of  war 
or  report  of  a  conflagration  brings  to  them  a  portentious 
sign  that  the  end  of  the  world  is  at  hand.  And  some  very 
creditable  naturalists,  by  the  way,  venture  to  show  how  we 
are  the  descendants  of  certain  quite  honorable  and  rational 
tribes  of  monkeys,  which  are  said  to  still  inhabit  impervious 
African  jungles,  and  who,  for  some  worthy  scruples,  refuse 
to  come  forth  and  acknowledge  their  relationship  to  our 
racial  mediocrity.  They  cleverly  deny  that  we  are  in  any 
way  a  'survival  of  the  fittest,'  or  the  timely  production  of 
any  mode  of  development  process.  Ne  plus  ultra!  Thus 
the  naturalist  and  the  monkey  are  seemingly  at  war  on  the 
subject.  And  in  weighing  the  argument,  our  conviction  is 
that  the  monkey  has  the  preponderance.  Besides,  the  mon- 
key stands  on  the  side  of  revelation's  'Word,  which  the  aspir- 
ing scientist  ignores,  and  will  not  condescend  to  accept  as 
being  worthy  his  notice.  Here,  again,  the  ancestral  chim- 
panzee has  the  advantage  over  his  untutored,  anthropoidal 
descendant,  and  the  monkey  scores  the  naturalist. 

In  looking  over  the  field  of  science  and  of  natural 
history,  one  finds  nothing  definitely  pointing  out  nor  show- 
ing the  true  time  or  manner  regarding  the  creation  of  man. 
Science  here,  as  almost  everywhere  else,  whenever  she  un- 
dertakes to  explain  from  natural  cause  and  appearance,  the 
deeper  problems,  or  to  furnish  salutary  conclusions  respect- 
ing the  abstruse  mysteries  of  the  origin  and  final  end  of 
things,  she  falls  short.  This  is  because  of  the  crude  and 
chaotic  state  of  science,  which  has  not  as  yet  learned  to 
blend  and  reconcile  herself  with  the  eternal,  unfailing 
teachings  of  the  omniscient  Word.  Hence,  we  must,  as  ever 
in  the  course  of  our  research  go  back  again  and  again  to 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  65 

the  old  Book  of  the  divine  lores  and  wisdoms,  or  rather  it 
should  be  the  product  of  our  humble  labor  to  here  again 
learn  to  combine  and  adjust  the  secular  and  divine. 

Our  Eace  begun  and  originated  almost  6,000  years  ago. 
The  race  then  begun  and  continued  to  propagate  for  more 
than  1,600  years,  when  it  was  destroyed  by  the  waters  of  a 
flood,  after  which  it  again  commenced  to  propagate  out  of 
the  new.  Not  until  now,  after  a  course  of  2,300  years  or 
more  after  the  flood,  the  face  of  the  planet  begins  to  be  more 
or  less  all  populated.  Yes,  man  originated  nearly  sixty  cen- 
turies ago,  but  the  creation  of  man  will  be  consummated 
only  at  the  end  of  time.  Man  is  creating,  not  created.  Just 
so  with  the  world.  The  "World  shall  be  in  all  seven  'Day?' 
creating.  The  World  is  not  yet  created,  neither  is  the  Eace 
of  man.  It  will  require,  in  all,  a  period  of  46,000  years 
to  consummate  the  creation  of  our  yet  infant  race.  Then 
will  our  full-fledged  and  new  created  progeny  be  regarded 
by  the  eternal  powers  as  a  Oneness,  a  single  being;  'Man' 
created !  What  little  of  this  we  behold,  or  is  at  any  time 
visible,  is  but  the  ever  present  progress  of  the  race  unfold- 
ing itself. 

At  the  close  of  the  recent  lunar  Cataclysm,  and  long 
before  the  origin  of  man,  the  opening  of  the  sixth  great  Day 
dawned.  Up  to  that  time  man  had  not  existed  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  Not  only  that,  but  the  violence  of  the  cosmic 
shock  then  annihilated,  perhaps,  all  previous  organic  life  off 
the  earth.  Besides,  Scripture  informs  us  that  no  cattle  nor 
four-footed  beasts  were  created  until  the  sixth  Day.  During 
the  earlier  part  of  this,  our  great  Day,  the  Lord  God  created 
all  quadrupeds.    This  organic  genera  would  most  probably 


66  INTRODUCTION 

include  all  classes  of  quadrumana.  That  is,  implying  al- 
together all  those  species  still  extant  or  extinct;  the  mam- 
moth, the  mastodon,  the  horse,  the  dog,  the  sheep,  the  cow, 
the  ape,  the  baboon,  etc.  The  organic  world  of  the  sixth 
Day  was  all  begun  during  the  forenoon,  all  completed  by 
noon.  The  'Days  of  Creation'  are  the  ages  and  pages  of  a 
planet's  natural  historv,  and  the  number  of  moons  indicate 
as  many  originations  and  extinctions  of  species;  in  the 
morning  of  each  mystic  'Day"  a  series  of  species  flash  into 
twistence,  and  in  the  evening  they  flash  out.  Such  is  the 
delphic  lesson  of  the  moons,  and  the  mystery  of  the  earth's 
seven  ages.  On  the  sixth  day  'God  made  the  beasts  of  the 
earth  according  to  their  kind,  and  cattle,  and  everything 
Hi  at  creepeth  on  the  earth  after  its  kind*  And  then  God 
created  man.  About  the  middle  of  the  day,  God  created 
Adam.  'And  God  said  let  us  make  man  to  our  own  image 
and  likeness/ 

But  this  work,  like  that  of  the  cattle  and  quadrupeds, 
was,  in  itself,  a  'special  creative  act'  of  the  Almighty. 
Man  was  formed  from  the  dust  of  the  planet,  directly  by 
the  hand  of  God,  when  God  breathed  into  the  man's  nostrils 
the  breath  of  life  and  he  became  a  living  soul.  Man  was 
at  first  formed,  as  the  Scripture  shows,  both  male  and  fe- 
male in  the  one  being,  an  hypostatic  formation  (if  we  may 

*It  is  very  probable  that  the  force  of  the  world-storm  did 
not  destroy  the  forms  of  acquatic  life  then,  or  before,  existing. 

fEach  and  every  special  creation  was  not  only  a  special  cre- 
ative act  in  its  origin,  but  such  was,  according  to  the  earliest 
Scripture,  a  special  and  continuous  creative  act  'after  its  own 
kind'  (Gen.  i:12,  21,  24,  25).  No  evolution  of  species  in  this 
divine  plan.  Each  species  was  divinely  commanded  to  'increase 
and  multiply  after  its  own  kind.' 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  67 

so  term  it),  until  later  on  the  Lord  separated  and  resolved 
him  into  two  beings,  according  to  the  organic  duplexity  of 
male  and  female.  {For  a  full  explanation  on  these  ques- 
tions see  main  part  of  the  book,  p.  212.)  It  will  require  the 
entire  'afternoon'  of  the  sixth  day  of  creation's  week  to 
complete  the  great  work  begun  in  the  'forenoon.'  Then 
shall  be  fulfilled  the  traditional  account  of  evening  and 
morning,  being  the  sixth  day.  Then  shall  follow  the  sev- 
enth day,  the  great  Sabbath,  commonly  called  the  Millen- 
ium. Such  is,  indeed,  both  the  biblical  and  rational 
account  of  the  Origin  of  man. 


ARTICLE  VI. 
The  Fall  of  Man 

A  'Paradise  of  pleasure'  was  created  at  the  birth-place 
of  man.  This  Paradise  was  created  and  kept  by  the  hand 
of  God,  or  rather  by  the  hand  of  his  Angels,  who  had  form- 
ed and  created  man,  and  dwelt  in  the  Eden.  They  formed 
man  at  first  and  then  reformed  him  into  two  distinct  be- 
ings. And  they  all  dwelt  in  the  Eden.  Now,  the  Paradise, 
or  the  Eden,  was  a  small  spot  of  earth  supposed  to  have  been 
located  somewhere  in  the  western  part  of  Asia.  It  was 
small  at  first,  for  then  the  population  of  the  globe  was 
small,  probably  not  more  than  four — two  of  angels  and 
two  of  man.  Now,  it  was  also  commanded  them  that  they 
should  'increase  and  multiply,'  though  not  after  their  own 
kind.  There  were  at  this  time  planted  in  that  most  beau- 
tiful Garden  'all  manner  of  trees  fair  to  behold :  the  tree  of 
life  also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil.' 

It  was  at  that  time  commanded  of  our  first  parents 
that  they  should  not  eat  of  the  'Tree  of  knowledge,'  and 
that  they  should  eat  of  the  'Tree  of  Life.  If  they  ate  of  the 
Tree  of  Knowledge  it  was  assured  them  they  would  die.  If 
they  partook  of  the  Tree  of  Life  they  would  live  forever  and 
be  translated  into  Heaven  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time  with- 
out the  penalty  of  death.  These  were  certainly  an  extraor- 
dinary character  of  'Tree/  to  have  power  to  confer  such 
qualities  and  properties  on  the  participant.    There  is  cer- 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  69 

tainly  no  tree  that  grows  in  the  forest,  nor  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  like  to  these. 

Now  this  is  the  Exegesis  of  the  wonderful  dilemma. 
These  were  symbolical  'Trees/  indeed  a  figurative  species. 
This  we  know  from  the  reason  that  they  could  not  be  any 
other  kind.  They  could  not  be  otherwise  than  supernat- 
ural in  order  to  confer  such  attributes.  They  cannot  be 
trees  of  the  vegetable  character.  No  natural  fruit  could 
make  our  bodies  immortal  or  save  us  forever  from  death, 
nor  could  any  vegetable  quality  bestow  on  the  participant 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Besides  there  are  many 
other  symbolical  terms  used  in  the  Bible,  such  as  beast,  har- 
lot, candlestick,  days,  lamb,  rock,  lamps,  etc.  The  parables 
are  all  aglow  with  tropes  and  epithets,  and  the  prophecies 
are  everywhere  incandescent  with  luminous  figures. 

The  Tree  of  life,  and  of  which  Adam  and  Eve  were 
commanded  to  'eat'  was  the  angels  of  the  race  of  God,  and 
which  also  dwelt  in  the  Paradise.  But  the  Tree  of  knowl- 
edge which  our  first  parents  were  forbidden  to  'eat'  of  was 
the  human  race,  the  beginning  of  which  likewise  dwelt  in 
the  Eden.  The  Lord  commanded  them  to  partake  of  the 
celestial  Tree,  whereby  they  might  bring  forth  a  race  of 
superior  beings,  half  human  and  half  divine,  in  a  manner 
not  unlike  to  that  of  Christ  himself,  who  was  born  of  a  vir- 
gin and  an  angel.*  But  the  great  Serpent  countermanded 
the  will  of  God  by  desiring  and  requesting  Adam  and  Eve 

*Such  superior  men  would  be  the  same  as  was  the  Messiah 
up  to  the  time  of  his  baptism.  But  then,  at  that  time,  the  entire 
God-spirit-being  entered  into  Christ,  making  him  the  first  angel 
incarnate;  that  is,  the  first  incarnation  from  the  seven  Spirits 
of  God. 


■ft)  INTRODUCTION 

to  produce  from  the  Tree  of  knowledge,  and  thereby  bring 
forth  a  race  of  mortals,  purely  human  beings,  good  and  evil, 
so  that  he,  the  serpent,  might  become  possessor  of  a  share 
therein,  and  possess  the  evil  portion ;  for  he  knew  if  they 
sprung  from  the  Tree  of  Life  that  he  would  then  have  no 
share  whatever,  as  there  would  be  no  evil  in  that  species  of 
a  race. 

Consequently,  the  'old  serpent'  set  to  work,  using  his 
utmost  efforts  of  seduction  and  persuasion,  and  by  numer- 
ous insinuations  and  lies  endeavored  to  persuade  this  inex- 
perienced and  simple  couple  that  the  commands  and  warn- 
ings of  their  Creator  were  unjust  and  false,  till  he  finally 
succeeded  in  convincing  fair  Eve  that  they  would  not  die 
the  death,  Ihe  threatened  death,  if  they  brought  forth  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  God,  but  that  instead  they  would  become 
as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.  He  persuaded  them  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  now  persuades  men  that  there  is  no  God. 
The  whole  matter  was  left  to  the  absolute  Freewill  of 
the  first  man  and  woman,  till  the  woman,  who  was  the  first 
to  be  overcome  by  the  wiles  of  the  wicked  one,  consented  to 
obey  the  counsel  of  Satan  and  disobey  the  will  of  God ;  when 
she  and  the  serpent  together  persuaded  and  overcame  the 
man  and  they  both  transgressed.  Alas !  'Caesar  has  crossed 
the  Rubicon,  et  jucta  est  aha!' 

Now  has  Satan  succeeded  in  setting  up  woman  as  the 
n  goddess  of  the  race  and  planet,  and  man  the  'god'  thereof ; 
and  he  himself  the  triumphant  Demiurge  of  the  adoring 
Beast.  Now,  verily,  this  was  the  Devil's  right,  his  God-given 
right  and  privilege,  and  therefore,  his  just  right,  to  thus 
seduce  the  Protoplast  of  a  new  race,  if  he  could,  and  finally 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  71 

to  take  with  him  his  apportioned  share.  If  Providence  had 
ordained  and  decreed  that  those  Aingels  were  to  produce  a 
race  of  themselves,  incapable  of  seduction,  then  the  Arch- 
outcast  of  heaven  would  be  deprived  of  his  inherited  right. 
Besides,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  angels  could  produce  of  them- 
selves, because  of  the  total  absence  of  animal  nature.  It 
is  even  doubtful  if  they  could  become  incarnated  without 
first  having  connection  with  the  human,  or,  otherwise,  be 
born  or  reborn  from  the  human.  Otherwise  there  would 
be  no  need  to  create  planets  at  all,  if  generations  could  be 
produced  in  heaven.  But,  no,  this,  the  organic  part  of  crea- 
tion's functional  work  must  all  be  done  outside  the  walls 
of  the  Empyrean. 

Evidently  the  theory  not  only  clears  up  the  mystery 
of  the  Fall  and  Eedemption,  but  it  also  shows  the  devil's 
position  in  the  ranks  of  creation  and  being,  that  he  is  justly 
a  privileged  character  of  limited  extent,  and  an  evil  Demi- 
urge, or  in  a  manner  a  fallen  and  evil  creator !  Likewise 
it  clears  up  and  shows  to  mankind  his  true  situation  with 
relation  to  God  and  nature,  and  which  he  never  wholly 
knew  before.  The  theory  gives  fully  the  latitude  and  lon- 
gitude of  all  these  things.  The  God  of  all  mercy  granted 
to  the  Devil  this  privilege  in  order  to  assuage  and  mitigate 
the  dreadfulness  of  his  doom ;  and  as  a  consequence  we  are 
all  born  heirs  to  the  fallen  god,  and  so  remain  until  wq 
renounce  allegiance  to  the  infernal  kingdom,  and,  through 
Christ,  become  espoused  to  the  kingdom  of  life. 

But  to  return  again  to  the  subject ;  they  at  once  became 
ashamed  of  their  naked  condition,  and  sewed  leaves  togeth- 
er to  make  themselves  aprons.     Now  why  were  they  not 


72  INTRODUCTION 

ashamed  of  their  mouths  if  they  had  literally  eaten  of  the 
forbidden  fruit,  or  of  their  hands  if  it  were  these  members 
which  had  transgressed  ?  No,  but  the  parts  which  were  the 
instruments  of  violation  became  the  organs  of  shame  for- 
ever! And  when  the  angel  accosted  them  that  afternoon 
they  offered  excuses ;  Eve  blaming  the  serpent  for  her  mis- 
fortune and  Adam  laying  blame  to  the  woman, 
and  the  Lord  pronounced  on  them  the  inevitable 
imprecations,  which,  as  a  result,  were  sure  to 
folllow  the  sin  and  disobedience  of  their  trans- 
gression and  elopement.  Their  posterity  was  to  be 
the  sure  and  unhappy  product  of  their  sin,  and  was  like- 
wise doomed  to  share  the  judgment  of  sin  and  shame  and 
misery  and  death.  Being  a  race  of  mortals,  what  else  could 
they  expect?  Nothing  celestial  in  them,  nothing  divine  in 
them,  nothing  but  human,  animal  nature,  their  fate  was 
to  be  like  that  of  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Their  first  born 
was  a  murderer.  They  are  turned  out  of  Eden  forever,  and 
at  the  end  of  a  little  time  they  must  return  to  the  dust  of 
out  of  which  they  were  formed,  and  all  mankind  with  them 
(see  Ps.  213,  etc.). 

Such  is,  indeed,  the  grave  situation,  immutable,  enig- 
matical, paradoxical !  Such  is  the  foundation  of  our  race, 
and  such  the  foundation  which  might  have  been.  Nay,  was 
not  the  information  given  us  from  heaven  through  the 
prophet  Moses,  to  acquaint  us  how  our  race  begun?  Cer- 
tainly. The  Lord  never  intended  that  we  should  be  ignor- 
ant of  such  an  important  truth.  All  things  are  foreshown 
to  us,  all  important  things  are  made  known  to  us  through 
the  columns  of  the  inspired  text,  only  to  discover  them. 
Such  is  indeed  the  stock  from    which  we     sprung.     Nor 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  73 

is  it  for  us  to  complain,  but  to  make  the  best  we  can  of  a 
fallen  lot;  nor  does  it  behoove  us  to  lament,  for  lamenta- 
tions are  an}<how  vain.  The  constitution  of  the  world  is 
unalterably  fixed  till  the  end  of  time.  Maybe  the  ordina- 
tion and  destiny  is  in  some  way  for  the  best,  or  not  all  for 
the  worst.  There  is  a  hopeful  side  to  all  things. 
'There  is  never  a  cloud  so  black  but  has  a  silver 
lining.'  we  are  unable  to  comprehend  the  profound- 
est  ways  of  God,  the  inexplicable  depth  of  Providence. 
This  loving,  hating  generation,  this  laughing  crying, 
praying  sighing,  hoping  sinning,  helpless,  afflicted,  turbu- 
lent, mortal  world  of  ours  may  not  be  for  the  worst.  Have 
rnercy  on  us,  0  Lord,  we  are  still  the  work  of  Thy  hand, 
amid  the  echoings  of  the  realms  of  time.  We  are  still  thy 
children,  Adam,  erring  man,  nor  shall  we  revile  thy  heavy 
heart,  thy  repentant  soul;  and  frail,  wayward  Eve,  where 
e'er  thy  spirit  rests,  thou  art  still  our  ancient  mother.  But 
now  this  big  round  planet  shall  brood  and  nourish  on  its 
broad,  chaotic  bosom  a  race  of  fallen  mortals,  and  heaven's 
sun  shall  ever  rise  and  set  on  naught  else  but  a  race  of 
doomed  mortals,  unless  by  heaven's  help,  by  heaven's 
mercy  there  be  something  done  !  * 

*Originists  may  remonstrate,  that  it  cannot  be  the  part  of 
eternal  Justice  to  thus  impose  the  guilt  of  the  Parents  on  the 
irresponsible,  unconscious  Offspring.  The  argument  for  the 
opposite  side  of  the  question  would  be,  at  least,  in  part,  as  fol- 
lows :  The  offspring  is  the  essential  product  of  the  parents  and 
of  the  parents  will,  and  there  can  be  no  quality  nor  property  in 
the  product  but  that  which  exists  or  existed  in  the  oiginal  fac- 
tors. In  the  psychology  of  begitting,  it  is  true  that  it  is  no  less 
the  will  of  the  offspring  (though  unconscious)  to  be  begotton, 
than  it  is  the  will  of  the  parents  to  beget.  The  will  of  the  one 
is  the  will  of  the  other.  If  it  were  the  will  of  our  first  Parents 
to  produce  a  fallen  race,  it  is  no  less  the  will  of  that  race  that  it 


ARTH'LK   VII. 
The  Redemption 

'Now,  therefore,  lest  perhaps  Adam   put  forth   his   hand; 

and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for- 
ever.'    (Genesis  iii:  22.) 
'If  any  man  eat  of  this  oread,  he  shall  have  life  forever: 

and  the  bread  which  I  will  give  is  my  flesh  for  the  life 
of  the  world.'     (John  vi:  52.) 

The  'Tree  of  Life'  in  the  Old  Testament  became  the 
'Bread  of  Life'  in  the  New  Testament.  'He  that  eateth 
this  bread  shall  live  forever'  (John  vii:58).  And  since  we 
failed  of  divine  extraction  in  the  beginning,  we  must  of 


may  exist.  No  being  is  ever  conceived  against  his  own  will.  If 
the  individual  enjoyed  the  exercise  of  free  will  at  his  conception, 
he  would  have  exercised  it  exactly  as  did  his  parents;  in  fact,  he 
was  the  very  cause  and  spark  which  prompted  the  act  of  his  own 
conception,  the  desire  existed  in  the  embryo,  even  as  it  did  in 
the  parents.  The  offspring  is,  indeed,  a  real  and  virtual  part  of 
the  parents;  the  whole  human  family,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  time,  is  but  the  timely,  evolutionary  fulfillment  of  the 
original  Pair.  The  blood  which  coursed  through  their  veins  has 
become  the  sanguine  fluid  which  nourisheth  the  whole  race.  In 
this  the  function  of  Individuality  cuts  no  separate  figure.  But 
the  individual  may,  nevertheless,  make  himself  celestial  if  he  will, 
and  cause  himself  to  rise  above  the  mediocre  of  his  birth,  and 
that  by  the  voluntary  and  divine  rebirth.  This  is  the  privilege 
of  celestial  ascendancy,  the  granted,  God-given  prerogative  of  the 
individual,  the  conscious  and  voluntary  act  of  the  offspring. 
Though  originated  solely  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge,  the  individual 
may  thus  rise  above  his  derivation  and  save  himself  by  partaking 
of  the  Tree  of  Life.  However,  all  must  suffer  the  penalty  of  the 
proscribed  'death,'  the  virtue  of  the  Rebirth  not  attesting  itself 
in  the  physical  corporation  until  the  new  body  is  resurrected. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  75 

frail  necessity  be  born  over  again.  No  one  can  be  saved 
who  remains  purely  human,  wholly  mortal.  In  this  state 
we  fall  a  sure  and  easy  prey  to  the  evil  One.  We  of  ignoble 
derivation,  are  too  gross,  too  sensual,  too  animal,  if  not 
ingrafted  by  the  divine  nature,  to  be  ever  able  to  ascend. 
Hence,  unless  we  are  redeemed,  unless  we  avail  ourselves 
of  the  fruits  of  the  Eedemption,  we  cannot  be  saved.  Not 
one  can  be  saved  unless  redeemed.  We  must  be  lifted  up 
by  partaking  of  the  divine  nature  from  above.  By  laying 
the  above  two  quotations  of  Holy  Scripture  side  by  side, 
we  see  that  the  'Tree  of  Life'  and  the  'Bread  of  Life'  hath 
the  same  significance,  picture  and  power  over  mortal  death. 
Because  of  the  original  error,  we  must  indeed  be  'born  again 
not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh  nor  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.' 
'Amen,  I  say  unless  you  be  born  again  of  water  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  ye  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.'  Those 
who  are  born  again  constitute  the  Church,  whille  those  who 
will  refuse  to  be  born  again  shall  constitute  the  Beast.  There 
are  only  two,  namely :  the  Church  and  the  Beast.  The  first 
because  they  will  eat  of  the  Bread  of  life  shall  rise  up  glor- 
ified on  the  last  day.  The  rest  shall  not  rise  up  glorified 
because  there  will  be  nothing  glorified  in  them.  They  will 
not  be  redeemed.  They  will  refeuse  to  share  in  the  Redemp- 
tion. 

If  a  man  were  seen  walking  up  and  down  the  streets 
through  the  town  swaying  his  arms  with  emphasis  and  cry- 
ing :  'Hear  ye  people,  you  must  be  all  born  again !  You 
must  be  all  born  over  again  or  you  cannot  see  everlasting 
life !'  If  such  a  thing  should  happen,  'Why,'  they  would  say 
'that  man  is  crazy ;  arrest  him ;  he  is  a  nuisance !'  Well,  so 
it  is  ever  with  the  world.    However,  the  man  would  not  be 


76  INTRODUCTION 

crazy ;  he  would  only  be  inspired  to  preach  God  Almighty's 
truth.  No  truer  words  ever  fell  from  the  lips  of  man.  No 
benefactor  ever  gave  wiser  alarm  to  his  fellow-man.  For 
the  God  of  the  earth  himself  has  told  us  in  plain  language : 
'Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  God!'  (John  iii:  3).  Well,  if 
our  origin  and  birth  at  first  were  according  to  the  divine 
will,  there  would  be  no  need  that  we  be  born  again.  Orig- 
inally, we  are  purely  animal,  there  is  nothing  divine  in  us. 
The  human  should  have  been  engrafted  into  the  divine  Tree 
at  the  beginning,  but  since  that  failed  to  have  been  done, 
it  is  now,  happily,  incumbent  on  us  to  engraft  the  Divine 
into  the  human.  We  must  propagate  from  the  two-fold 
extraction  of  gods  and  men. 

However  fair  we  are  mortal;  however  brave  we  are 
bestial;  however  wise  we  are  not  celestial;  however  great 
we  are  not  divine ;  however  loving  we  are  sinners ;  however 
strong,  however  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  we  are 
subjects  of  death  and  corruption.  Indeed,  unless  we  receive 
of  the  divine  nature  in  us  we  are  empty  creations  of  noth- 
ing worth;  nor  worthy  or  fit  to  join  with  God  or  angels 
because  of  the  baseness  of  our  nature  and  origin.  First, 
we  must  be  divinely  recreated,  then  must  good  works  follow. 
Then  let  the  strong  lift  up  the  weak,  and  let  the  rich  di- 
vide with  the  poor;  yes,  now,  while  yet  there  is  light 
and  day,  for  soon  the  night  of  death  comes  on,  when  we  can 
work  no  more. 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  presided  over  by  the  144,000 
vestal  Knights  or  pillars  of  the  Church,  mentioned  in  Apoc. 
xiv:l-5.    Their  number  is  found  by  multiplying  the  num- 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  77 

ber  of  the  twelve  Patriarchs  by  that  of  the  twelve  Apostles, 
and  that  product  by  1,000  gennesial  'days';  into  whose 
hands  is  given  the  'continual  sacrifice'  of  the  real  presence 
of  the  Body  and  Blood  to  bestow  on  all  whomsoever  will  re- 
ceive during  the  thousand  days.  Then  the  'continual  sac- 
rifice shall  be  taken  away,'  when  the  'abomination  unto  des- 
olation shall  be  set  up.'  After  the  expiation  and  atone- 
ment of  a  God  suffering  in  the  human,  we  mortals  must  be 
baptized  and  become  divinely  initiated  in  the  name  of  the 
Spirit  of  that  God,  which  was  denied  in  the  rivalship 
of  the  'Fall,'  and  we  must  eat  of  the  bread  of  the 
Tree  of  Life,  which  was  rejected  at  the  time  of  the  'Fall.' 

The  grand  function  of  the  Redemption  was  to  restore 
the  Tree  of  Life.  The  blood  of  Jesus  alone  hath  power  to 
ransom  sinners.  This  bread  alone  hath  power  to  confer  im- 
mortality on  mortals,  and  to  bestow  celestial  nobility  and 
seraphic  dignity  on  the  children  of  fallen  man.  We  shall 
be  saved  by  bearing  in  all  things  the  light  burden  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  carrying  the  sweet  yoke  of 
His  Church ;  and  by  good  works  here  build  a  home  in  an- 
other sphere.  He  that  believe  in  Christ  shall  be  saved,  but 
he  that  believe  in  Christ  will  keep  His  commandments.  (He 
that  loveth  me/  said  the  Savior,  'will  keep  my  command- 
ments/ We  cannot  believe  the  one  and  deny  the  other. 
And  His  Church  is  the  perpetual  and  only  divine  institution 
on  the  face  of  the  planet,  the  boon  of  salvation,  the  perpet- 
ual Bock  which  the  thunders  of  hell  cannot  shake,  es- 
tablished as  the  sole  medium  of  redemption  by  regenera- 
tion, or  rebirth.  The  Church  is  the  divine  mother  of  all 
'who  are  born  again.'    She  is  the  triumphant  lady  'clothed 


78  INTRODUCTION 

with  the  sun/  a  young  tree  of  life,  and  commencing  with 
the  immaculate  Mary,  our  second  Eve,  our  faithful  Eve. 
For  further  discussion  on  the  question  of  the  orthodox 
Church  see  pp.  269  and  329,  etc.) 

It  is  very  discernable  from  several  passages  of  the 
Scriptures  that  one-third  of  our  race  shall  be  regenerated 
and  redeemed,  and  whose  names  shall  be  written  in  the 
'book  of  life.'  But  in  order  that  this  proportion  be  saved, 
the  Church  will  be  obliged  to  much  increase  the  number  of 
her  fold  between  now  and  the  time  of  the  reign  of  King 
Antichrist.  Probably  not  much  less  than  one-half  the 
entire  population  of  the  globe  must  necessarily  be  included, 
on  an  average  during  the  aeon  of  the  Christian  era,  until  the 
day  when  the  abomination  of  desolation  will  make  all 
(holy)  things  desolate,  when  the  Son  of  perdition  will 
triumph  over  the  whole  earth.* 

Conversely,  it  is  equally  plain  that  two-thirds  of  our 
unfortunate  race  will  refuse  the  fruits  of  the  Redemption, 
and  deny  the  bread  of  divinity.  Which  adverse  and  unre- 
deemed major  fraction  of  the  world  is  spiritually  called  the 
'Beast/  the  Beast  of  Bevelation.  Their  wild  unsanctified 
spirits  shall  hereafter  perish  in  a  manner  even  as  the  spirits 
of  the  beasts  of  the  field,  f     The  conjointed,  unified  form 

*lt  will  be  understood  that  the  Redemption  of  those  who  lived 
before  the  Christian  era,  and,  of  course,  others,  shall  be  procras- 
tinated until  after  the  resurrection.  Possibly  all  shall  be  given 
a  second  trial  and  chance. 

fThe  life,  or  spirits  of  the  animal  kingdom  belosv  the  age  of 
man  are  all,  after  long  periods  of  time,  destroyed  in  the  form 
of  lightning  after  death.  (For  a  full  discussion  on  this  subject 
see  TheoryX,  page  51.)  That  the  phenomenon  of  lightning  is  due 
to  the  explosion  and  combustion  of  animal  spirits  in  the  firma- 
ment by  ariaj  friction  caused  by  the  force  of  cosmic  pressure,  is 


THE  SEVEX  AGES  79 

of  which  theogonical  being  shall  be  that  of  a  prodigious 
serpent,  even  like  that  of  its  father  and  spiritual  sire,  the 
dragon,  the  'old  serpent/  As  the  Church  shall  possess  an 
upright,  angelic  formation,  as  designated  in  the  lady  of 
the  sun,  so  the  incorrigible  Beast  shall  produce  a  prone,  ser- 
pentine formation  (for  sin  will  make  him  prone)  and  de- 
scribed as  having  'seven  heads  and  ten  horns.' 

Now,  the  first  'Head'  of  this  fearful  creation  was  cut 
off  by  the  Xoachian  deluge.  At  the  time  of  Christ,  five 
of  the  heads  were  fallen,  'one  is,'  which  was  the  Roman 
Empire;  and  one  was  'yet  to  come,'  the  Occident.  The 
seventh  head  is  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  which  is  des- 
tined in  time  to  rule  the  whole  world.  Then  the  ten  Horns 
shall  begin  to  grow  on  this  cosmopolitan  head,  and  their 
dynasties  shall  rule  the  world  till  the  end  of  time,  when  the 
calamity  of  the  falling  satellite  shall  close  the  era  of  their 
reign.  The  'ten  Horns'  shall,  in  united  and  resurrected  cos- 
mogony, constitute  the  enormous  'trunk'  of  the  wonderful 
beast  serpent.*     (See  illustration,  p.  402.)     The  souls  of 


explained  and  proven  by  the  fact,  that  the  flash  of  explosion  is  in 
the  form  of  a  line,  or  a  streak.  The  action  of  a  mere  electric  ex- 
plosion would  be  in  all  directions  from  one  point,  like  that  of  a 
charge  of  dynamite.  (Mere  electric  fluid  or  heat  element  goes 
from  the  clouds  in  the  peaceful  manner  of  radiation,  not  explo- 
sion.) But  the  tenacity  of  the  spirit,  or  living  Volt,'  causes  the 
meandering  charge  to  more  or  less  cling  together  for  the  instant, 
and  go  in  one  direction:  a  spirit  being  burning  in  the  course 
of  transit.  Electric  fluid  will  not  follow  a  line  unless  led  by  a 
conductor,  no  more  than  will  the  fire  of  a  common  blast.  On 
this  question  of  animal  spirits  enduring  after  death,  consult, 
Ecclestiastes  iii:21  and  Esdras  vi:  49-52. 

*The  prophetical  transition  from  the  seventh  Head  of  nations 
to  the  ten  Horns  thereof,  or  even  the  constitutional  revolution 
already  imminent  in  the  seventh  'Mars'  itself,  is  a  difficult  prop- 
osition to  determine,  at  present,  from  any  available  data,  except 


80  INTRODUCTION" 

this  cosmic  Giant  goeth,  with  their  fallen  angels,  into  the. 
Sea  and  into  the  bottomless  Pit,  from  Avhich  sequestered 
resting  places  they  shall  usher  forth  again  at  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

Our  race  is  destined  to  build  life  and  being  for  two 
Kingdoms,  the  kingdom  of  Light  and  the  kingdom  of  Dark- 
ness, and  the  creating  world  must  needs  hasten  and  race  and 
pace  and  toil  during  yet  40,000  years,  ere  the  measure 
of  the  two  kingdoms  be  fulfilled.  We  are  practically  still 
at  the  beginning  of  time.  At  this,  our  age  of  the  world,  all 
that  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth  are  but  a  handful  to 
those  that  sleep  in  its  bosom ;  yet  the  living  and  the  dead  to- 
gether are  but  a  handful  to  the  number  who  are  yet  to  be. 
Yes,  Egypt  dead  is  greater  than  the  Orient  living;  but 
Egypt  yet  unborn  is  mightier  than  all  the  nations  born ;  for 
the  progeny  of  progenies  is  yet  to  come.  This  mystic  term 
'Time'  signifies  the  a?on  of  the  birth  and  death  of  our  pro- 
creating race,  the  era  of  begetting  and  burying,  aye,  too, 
and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  all  this  work  must  be 
finished  when  the  Seventh  Trumpet  sounds ! 


that  there  will  be  new  forms  and  new  discoveries  of  government, 
such  as  will  supercede  any  devise  of  state  or  statute  heretofore 
framed  on  the  planet.  Possibly  the  latter  change  will  introduce 
itself  in  some  form  of  Socialism.  Without  dilating  on  the  sub- 
ject here,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  auspices  of  the  ten 
'Horns'  of  the  world  shall  be  a  fixed  decumvirate  of  Mammonian 
or  Bonanzan  imperialism.  But  the  famous  Eighth  Head  shall 
surely  usher  in  a  most  radical  regime  of  Socialism,  such  as  even 
to  abolish  all  supremacy  of  Bank,  Church  and  State.  But  this 
era  cannot  come  until  after  the  'Battle  of  Heaven,'  or  thousands 
of  years  to  come. 


THE  SEVEN  AGES 

Embracing 

A  New  Development  of  Science  and  Theology 

The  foregoing  Articles  of  this  Pamphlet  are  mere  in- 
troductory Extracts  from  a  work  recently  written  and  pub- 
lished and  entitled  "The  Seven  Ages."  The  full  title  of 
which  book  is,  "The  Seven  Ages  of  Creation,  or  Cosmos 
and  the  Mysteries  Expounded."  The  title  of  the  work 
very  clearly  expresses  its  character,  and  shows  how  the 
evolution  of  all  matter  consists  of  a  seven-fold  series  of 
progression. 

The  first  stage,  or  phase  of  material  existence,  as  pre- 
viously shown,  exists  in  the  'Age'  or  condition  of  infinite 
Space.  The  second  stage  thereof  consists  in  the  Age  of 
Water.  The  third  stage  of  material  existence  is  manifest 
in  the  great  organic  or  Life  Age.  The  fourth  stage  of  Cre- 
ation is  seen  in  the  solid  form  of  great  Spheres,  or  what 
is  termed  the  Plutonic  Age.  The  fifth  Age  of  the  book 
shows  that  all  matter  is  again  resolving  itself  into  the  ele- 
ment of  Heat  at  the  interior  region  of  all  great  Spheres. 
The  sixth  Age  shows  that  the  element  of  Light  always  at 
first  originates  from  the  destruction  of  universal  fallen 
spirits  on  the  universal  suns.  The  Seventh  and  last  Age 
treats  of  the  nature  and  derivation  of  all  living  spirit  and 
Universal  Being.    Then  the  second  half,  or 


82  INTRODUCTION 

PART  II. 

of  the  work  treats  of  the  x\pocalypse  and  Revelations  of  the 
Scriptures  Expounded ;  or,  in  other  words,  it  explains  the 
Mysteries  of  Theology!     The  last  hook  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  which  was  written  at  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era  by  St.  John  the  Divine,  on  the  island  of  Patmos, 
while     under     banishment     by     decree     of     the     cruel 
Emperor  Domitian,  might   well  be   called  the   'Book    of 
Mysteries.'    The  many  commentaries  which  have  appeared 
during  these  centuries  on  the  Apocalypse  are  truly  said  to 
be  'unnumbered  if  not  numberless;'  after  all,  leaving  the 
mystic  volume  remaining  almost  still  in  its  primeval  state 
of  obscurity,  practically  a  'sealed  book.'    Now,  for  the  first 
time  has  the  writer  taken  up  the  subject,  registering  and 
treating  each  chapter  severally  in  a  running  commentary, 
and  from  an  entirely  new  standpoint  and  evolving  an  en- 
eirely  new  line  of  thought.    He  finds  that  the  work  of  ter- 
restrial Creation  is  the  production  of  seven  Arch-angels 
of  the  Sun.     Hence,  also,  the  title  of  his  book.     In  all 
things  is  the  earth  a  seven-fold  production.    He  finds  that 
the  Divine  Testimony  plainly  shows  where  the  human  soul 
goes  after  death ;  how  the  resurrection  shall  take  place ;  how 
the  second  coming  of  Christ  shall  be.    How  Antichrist  shall 
overthrow  the  Church  at  the  end  of  one  Thousand  great 
Days,  and  set  up  the  'Abomination  of  Desolation.' 

How  there  will  be  three  Resurrections  of  the  dead. 
Explaining  the  Constitution  of  the  resurrected  being,  whom 
naught  less  than  the  'two-edged  sword'  can  kill.  How  the 
Devil  shall  take  a  third  part  of  the  whole  race ;  how  Satan 
shall  take  a  third;  and  how  the  Lamb  of  God  shall  possess 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  83 

but  a  third  part.  Explaining  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation 
of  the  'God  of  the  earth.'  Who  King  Antichrist  shall  be. 
The  Reveries  of  the  Beasts  of  the  Sea  and  of  the  Pit.  Pro- 
ducing several  new  and  unfailing  Evidences  of  the  true 
Faith.  The  Orgies  of  the  risen  dead  in  Babylon  of  the 
prophecy.  How  the  solar  Serpent  shall  be  captured  and 
bound  in  the  nether  abyss.  The  myriadic  number  of  the 
Dragon.  These  wonders  are  all  explained  in  this  book,  the 
heretofore  unwritten  pages  of  human  wisdom,  such  as  con- 
founded sages  and  scientists  since  the  world  began.  The 
Prodigies  of  the  falling  Moon.  The  Marvels  of  the  Celes- 
tial Trumpets.  The  Conflagrations  of  the  doomed  City. 
The  final  War  of  Wars.  The  teratical  number  six  hundred 
and  sixty-six  explained.  This  is  only  a  brief  synopsis  of 
the  discoveries  of  this  phenomenal  book.  Herein  is  ex- 
plained the  character  of  being  inhabiting  the  other  planets. 
The  marriage  of  the  Angels  of  the  Lamb  to  the  first  Resur- 
rection of  men  during  the  Millenium.  The  City  of  new 
Jerusalem  interpreted.  And  then  the  final  dissolution  and 
extinction  of  our  dear,  beloved  Planet  before  the  awful 
presence  of  the  'Great  White  Throne'  !  !  ! 

The  Book  of  the  Secrets  expounded !  Some  said  this 
could  not  be  done :  somebody's  opinion !  The  Scripture 
makes  no  such  assertion ;  such  is  only  a  religious  supersti- 
tion. Nothing  could  be  more  absurd  than  that  an  intelli- 
gent Creator  should  bestow  an  important  message  to  his 
reasonable  Creatures,  with  the  implication  that  the  same 
should  never  be  understood.  And  though  many  things  re- 
main to  be  yet  explained,  the  Apocalypse  or  Revelation  is 
no  longer  a  sealed  book.    Practically  open  now,  so  Tie  that 


84  INTRODUCTION 

runs  may  read'  this  book  of  wonder  and  woe;  Creation's 
cardinal  Song! 

'Adding  nothing  or  nothing  extenuating,'  the  writer 
once  for  all,  accepts  the  'seamless  garment'  of  the  Divine 
Word  whole  and  entire;  and  defines  Eevelation  as,  God- 
given  testimony,  or  that  manifestation  which  comes  from 
above  and  beyond  all  that  which  we  of  oiirselves  can  hear 
and  see.  It  is  the  voice  of  Eternity  made  audible  to  man. 
He  unhesitatingly  confesses  the  triune  functional  Factors 
of  theologic  worship,  namely :  Eevelation,  revelation's  God 
and  revelation's  Church;  and  then  proceeds  to  prove  and 
substantiate  the  same  on  a  systematic  basis  from  Science 
and  Scripture  interwoven  into  one.  Obviously,  the  dis- 
covery of  the  solar  Heaven  is  the  keystone  of  gnostic  incep- 
tion, and  first  step  towards  devolving  an  Apocalypse.  When 
the  Heaven  and  Hell  are  found,  the  ice  is  broke  in  the  way 
of  delving.  These  are,  as  it  were,  the  Castor  and  Pollux 
of  vaticination.  Hereby,  only,  are  the  true  variations  es- 
tablished for  reaching  into  the  true  understanding  and  real 
depth  of  things.  Behold,  in  these,  the  twin,  sun-lit  Peaks 
of  science  and  theology's  remotest  poles,  like  antipodal  col- 
umns of  gold,  piercing  the  skies  of  knowledge.  Aye,  whose 
summits  reach  to  the  sun,  for  heaven  and  hell  are  only  dif- 
ferent aspects  of  the  one  Thesis  pointing  unto  the  Solar; 
'tis,  lo,  the  Eclipse  of  Theo-science  budding  in  the  crescent ! 

Yet,  in  all  this  the  writer  has  no  pretentions  to  super- 
natural agency  or  illumination;  nor  anything  other  than 
mere  insight  and  deductions  from  common  reason.  The 
angel  showed  all  these  things  to  the  prophet,  he  claims; 
'tis  ours  only  to  interpret  them.    He  holds  that  Hell  is  not 


THE  SEVEN  AGES  85 

a  place  of  endless  punishment,  but  an  universal  crematory 
for  all  sin  and  corruption,  and  a  place  of  annihilation  at 
the  end  of  a  certain  time.  And  that  the  suffering  of  a 
spirit  being  is  not  at  all  to  be  compared  to  that  of  living 
human  flesh  in  fire.  The  intensest  heat  is  capable  of  caus- 
ing only  comparatively  moderate  pain  and  wear  in  the 
spirit  subject.  Hence,  almost  interminable  ranges  of  time 
are  required  in  order  to  effect  an  utter  extinction,  in  the 
'second  death'  (Rev.  xx-xxi).  This  will  help  to  remove  the 
unmerciful,  gruesome  idea  of  unending  torture,  etc.,  so  re- 
volting to  most  people's  minds. 

We  are  all  aware  that  the  various  departments  of 
Science  and  Scripture,  up  to  this  day,  have  remained,  more 
or  less,  in  a  dissonant,  estranged  and  rather  crude  state. 
Many  things  suggested  and  asserted  with  but  few  things 
clearly  or  satisfactorily  shown,  leaving  the  thinking  mind 
filled  with  doubts  and  prejudices.  Doubts  against  unproven 
theories  and  doctrines,  and  prejudices  against  unseem- 
ing  tenets  and  creeds.  The  proposed  object  of  the  writer, 
here,  is,  not  to  abolish,  but  to  clear  up  and  explain,  and  to 
interharmonize  the  heretofore  apparently  opposing  princi- 
ples of  the  secular  and  sacred  knowledges,  resolving  and 
compounding  the  same  into  a  newly  and  more  thoroughly 
developed  System.  The  fruitful  prospects  of  which  effort 
will  be,  it  is  hoped,  to  effect  a  move  towards  the  proselyt- 
ing and  conversion  of  Christiandom  into  one  Church;  all 
Israel  (Jew  and  Gentile)  into  one  Fold. 

During  the  Autumn  of  1898  a  small  trial  edition  was 
edited  for  the  express  purpose  of  obtaining  critical  advice 
and  opinion.     These  embryo  volumes  were  sent  abroad  to 


86  I XTRODUCTION 

educators  and  divines.  Members  of  the  Bench,  Bar  and 
Pulpit  of  various  denominations,  and  Representatives  of 
Bcience  and  literature  responded.  Not  only  was  no  word 
of  demur  raised,  but  on  the  other  hand  flattering  commen- 
dations were  everywhere  enunciated.  Some  urged  that  the 
work  needed  to  be  revised  and  the  expression  somewhat 
simplified  to  accommodate  the  reading  masses.  During  the 
following  years  the  work  has  been  thoroughly  overhauled 
and  rewritten,  adding  much  explanatory  matter  and  also 
some  new  and  additional  theories.  Until  now,  in  the  field 
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Wherefore  of  things  obtain,  and  the  great  and  inexplicable 
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of  climate,  and  finally  was  induced  to  come  to  the  coast. 

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L_ 


THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM 
Showing  the  Sun,  Planets  and  Moons 


COMPARATIVE  SIZE  OF  SUN  AND  PLANETS. 
The  large  circle  represents  the  Sun.      The  small  dark  bodies 
within  represent  the  Planets.    J.  Jupiter,  S.  Saturn,  U.  Urannus 
N.  Neptune,  My.  Mercury,  V.  Venus,  E.  Earth,  Ms.  Mars.     How- 
ever, the  proportionate  size  of  the  planets  here  given  is  somewhat 
larger  than  the  reality.      The  Sun's  diameter   is   866,000   miles 
The  earth's  diameter  is  7,925. 


R  K  V  I  K  W  K  D 

by 

PROFESSOR  M.  F.  P RELAX 

P  ,.,,••.,.,■  oj   I  English  Literature, 

S.   II.   <  San  Fra  ncisco. 


We    have    received    from    the    pen    of    .Tolm    M.    Russell    a  of    his    new    book 

entitled,    THEO-SCIENTIUM.      It    is    a    modest    little    volumi  , 

and    discusses    in    a    most    original,    if    not    indeed    in    a    most    un  ay,    some    of 

the   most   abstruse   questions   of   Divine   Science   that   can   occupy   the   attention   of   the 
student.     The  little  volume   is  published  by  the  Eagle  Publishing  Co.,   and   is  dediea: 
to   ■'Lovers   of   learning   and  to   all  who  love   to   linger   at  wisdom's   gate." 

The  work   is  divided   into   seven   chanters,   in   the   first   of  which   he  deals   with 
■Solar   Throne,"    or   the    "deep-domed    Empyrean,"    or    '•Highest    Heaven,"    and   which 
we  recognize  as  the  region  of  that  pure   light   and   fire  which,   according  to  the  pi 

ever  rings  to  the  roar  of  an  angel  onset."  He  believes  that  the  beautiful  light 
of  dav  comes  from  the  Throne  of  God.  That,  as  the  Sun  is  the  grand  source  of 
phvsical  life  and  light,  so  it  is  also  the  palace  of  spirit  life  and  light — the  all- 
sufficient  Throne.  Because  of  its  surpassing  splendor,  many  were  led  to  worship  that 
Bodv.   not   knowing  that  the  day-beaming   Orb  was   really   a   sacred   Shrine. 

The    second    article   deals    with    the    Question    of   a    "Solar    Hell."      And   the   re 
is  that  the  various  chapters  look  like  a  continuous  story,   in  which  the  most  difficult 
problems    of    Astronomical    Science    and    Theology    are    attempted    to    be    solved ;    su-  h 
as    the    "Problem    of    Creation,"    the    "Contraction    of    the    Solar    System,"    and    the 
•Origin."    "Pall,"    and    "Redemption   of   Man." 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  philosophers  and  theologians  on  this  unpreten- 
tious contribution  to  literature,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  author's  honesty  of 
purpose  in  discussing  matters — such  as  the  location  of  the  eternal  Heaven  and  Hell, 
and  which  should  be,  to  mortal  man.  of  such  moment  as  to  transcend  all  others  in 
importance.  Throughout  the  seven  chapters  of  the  work,  the  reasoning  is  clear  and 
comprehensive,  the  argument  reaching,  and  the  conclusions  are  so  well  drawn  as 
onlv  to  awaken  comment,  but  to  arouse  the  profoundest  interest  among  thoughtful 
minds.  The  writer's  design  has  been  the  laudable  one  of  an  endeavor  to  reconcile 
the  apparent  differences  that  exist  between  science  and  religion.  He  strives  to  explain 
the  mvsteries  of  both,  and  advances  the  theory  that  the  Sun  is  the  Empyrean  of 
the  solar  svsteni,  and,  therefore,  the  Seat  of  solar  Omnipotence,  and  sustains  his 
ihesis  bv  astronomical  data,  by  induction,   and  by  many  passages  from  Revelation. 

The  Induction  he  bases  on  a  System  of  Vortices,  and  the   solar  system  he  calls  a 
"vast    cosmic    Vortex,    or    whirlpool    of    the    invisible    esseno  ace,"    constantly 

whirling  about  the  Sun   at   its   center   and   carrying  the   planets   around   about  with    it; 
the  Vortex,   likewise,   drawing  all   matter   and   bodies   with   itself  toward   the  Sun.     He 
then    goes    on    to    explain    that   the    Sun    is   a      stupendous,    cosmic   shell    of   gold,    thin 
and  solid,   and  surrounded  by  a   dense  sheen  of  molten  metal  and  flame.     The  int< 
of  this   ample   sphere  he   describes   as  the   Heaven,   while  the  he   denomin; 

as   the    solar    Hell:    and    tl  ins    that,    "All    matter — planetary    and    otherwise- 

is  being  gradually,   though    imperceptibly,   swept   down   to  the  great,  burning  Center." 
Then,   on    the  same  of   Vortices,   he   further   demonstrates  that,    "the   satellites 


k 

that   il 

as  the 

s.      A?    ■ 

'out  four  mil  ally.     Wl 
- 
;  is   constant 

it   a   disl 

it   be  eciual   to  about   063  miles. 

of    orbituhir    contra 
it    cam 

to    this 
ii    the    n 

proximil 

distant    . 
uty   of  th 
that    we    think    ii 

n's    dian 
fix    the  in    round    numb 

■or   Jupiter    with    five    m  of   four,    and    Uranu  rnur 

But    th  II    chang  no    detriment    to    the    theories,    I 

■  ' -insr    thai 
iup 

ly    truly    thi 
and    fig 

-lit   of   da 

the   word    ;  :uid  which   the   v 

■  erlooked.      The    Gn  aud    the    L  signifies 


R  A 

ion 
a 

1 
iticipati  I  ie   1 

thi 

Sun's    circumfen 

Sun.     Ni 
i 

i  it   would  hi 

I 

: 

I 

nto  the  numb  uns  of  immensitj 

the   Father   reigned  tnd  the   Holy   Ghi 

i.  until   the  "second 
;le  of  separal 
many  distinct   Throi 
The    writer    interprets    that,    through    the    < 

being  i  gloriou  the 

iut" 
quent    proc< 
d    into  a  pent 

lid   borne  nto   the 

of    all    degrai  while    tl  the 

of   all    restoration;    the    ul  als    in    the    great   circle    of  iing. 

disquisi!  Eschatology,    we   shall   now  pass  on    ti 

of  thi  Natural    history   of   the  hum;-  The 

on    the    "Origin    of  e.      He    i  our 

o    the    bil  i    of 

on  ; 
ill  fallen 
of  the   fifth  and  'ted 

ording   to   the  format!  d   then    was,    according   to   th 

aent.     That   the    •'Tree   of 
m   and    E  mmanded  was   an   Angel,   or  Angels 

operation  our  first  parents  were  to  b< 
that  was  to  be  immortal;  that,   instead,  tl  itly 

,i  wholly  human  progeny  subject  to  sin,  misery  i 

Thi  hese  deductions  from   a  biblical  standpoint,   and  undei 

prove  tl  ?od.   goo 

angel.   • 

lund, 
I  a  Virgin  :  a  that 

Bread  of  Lit  i  of 

"born    : 

irtal 
he  divine  test  of  faith  and  testimony,   but,  that,   after  all,   mucl 


REVIEW 


nun.  arrow  gi 

Mr.  Ru  cile  the  pro  vim  and 

of  i  he  most  advam  ed  ai 
under  our   d  fhe  more  we  think  o  grow    t< 

.r  truthfulness  and  adaptation;  the  propriety  of  the   interpretation 
where  disch  iat  world  to  d 

or   reject,     i  nfortunatelj  rrors  to  be   found   in    th< 

of   illustrations;    and  quotations   and   rel 
abundant    than    they   might   be;    but  re   minor  matters   in   consideration    of 

enhancing   and   all-absorbing   importance   of   th  is  discus 

the    position    which  imes,    may    be    said   to   be    that    of   one 

formula  attempting  to  found  "logy,  and  which 

substantiating  the  promulgations  of  the  Scripture,  promises  to  able  defei 

in   behalf  of  the   Bible  and  Christianity,   and.   at   the  same  time,  oilers  a   n 
counsel  against  Athi  Skepticism   in   general,  by  likewise  showing  the  scientific 

reasoned  of  a  Heayen,  a  Hell,  etc.    To  explain   the   prol 

theology  is  ever  to  produ  ense  that  can  be  made   in   support   of  orthodox 

faith.  Probably,  here,  for  the  first  time,  will  the  Spiritualist  and  Materialist  be 
brought  to  join  hands  in  cordial  greeting.  The  first  must  admit  that  matter  and  being 
are   ever   co-existent,   while   tl  ill    be   gradually    forced   to    accede,    that    Being 

presides   over    all    matter,      indeed,    to    all    appearance,    the    work    throughout    evin 
something  of  uncommon   merit,   and   its  extremely  new  and  problematic  character  will 
warrant  the  most   recondite    investigation. 


PUBLISHER'S    NOTICE. 

The  v\<  irks  of  the  present  writer  are  now  before  the    following  named  Theo- 
logical  ami  Scientific  Tribunals  for  deliberation  and  issue  of  opini* 

The  recently   appointed    Biblical    Commission    (Rome);  The    L'Academie 
yal  des  Sciences  (Paric);  The  Royal  Academy  of  Arts  (London  i;  The  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  (Washington  ) 
Address  all  communications  to 

EAGLE  PUBLISHING  CO  . 
Q.-  _  0   *  .    j  —        San  Francisco    Cal. 

/W***!  «  General  Deliven  P.  O 


June  15th,  1903. 


<&■.  *  '^T^^^^^^^^^^^vi^^e^Y 


'  /&VZ  /SL 


4*  To      •  vWi 


syrUV, 


VB 


